


Dreams are Fleeting

by Stormking



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Action, Betrayal, Dreams, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Lies, Relationship(s), Trust, crime boss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-19
Updated: 2017-03-26
Packaged: 2018-10-07 05:46:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 76,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10353513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stormking/pseuds/Stormking
Summary: Nick tries to ignore the past,Judy tries to ignore the future.They both know where this is going,But who knows if this can even work.Yet they'll try, they'll try everything,Because dreams are fleeting





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> And here we finally go. After almost nine months worth of weekends and three drafts I can finally call this fic ready to be released.
> 
> It’s been one hell of a trip that included many rewrites, replotting and lots of shaking off rust on my end. The project came close to getting scrapped several times but all the awesome stories here in the AO3 Zootopia community kept me firmly planted in the fandom. And I’m not done yet!
> 
> A big thanks goes to my beta readers [AsekaSilver](http://archiveofourown.org/users/AsekaSilver/profile), [Erasmusmaus](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Erasmusmaus/profile) and [YFWE](http://archiveofourown.org/users/YFWE/profile) who took it upon themselves to read through the earlier drafts. Thanks to them this story came out much stronger than I could have done it on my own. And the result is something I think you will all enjoy.
> 
> Since the fic is all done, I’m planning to release a chapter a day now while I do a last sanity check on them.
> 
> So without further ado, here is Dreams are Fleeting.
> 
> P.S.: comments, feedback, criticism is all welcome.

Evening sun was already shimmering in the western bay, when Nick leaned against the chimney. He had completed his last preparations and now an eerie awareness had settled upon him, like his senses were working overtime. It was akin to the moment after the jump, while taking one last breath in the knowledge that it was far too late to change course and that hitting the cold water had become a sudden inevitability.

He felt almost detached from himself, as he gazed down into the waves, thinking that his time would much better spent studying the mammals that went back and forth on the piers as there were surely a few suckers among them, just waiting to be cheated out of a few bucks. That was the awareness he should be having, not watching, listening and smelling the salty waves.

Or maybe he had earned himself this one evening, because tomorrow would no doubt be worse in ways he couldn’t imagine yet.

“Nick?”

A familiar voice snapped him back into the present. He took a moment to make sure his face was still in place before turning around. No need to get all contemplative on others as well.

“Carrots, you made- fish-sticks! What happened to you?” He took a few steps and had to stop himself from crouching down to examine the bruise on the left side of her face.

“What? Oh, this?” She pointed at it as if she hadn’t been aware of it. “It’s nothing, just got a little rough in the last arrest today. Nothing that would stop me,” she declared, but Nick saw she was smiling a bit brighter with the right side of her face that wasn’t touched.

“Well, I knew it was a dangerous job,” he sighed and waved her over to the front of the roof terrace where they could sit down.

“And you signed up anyway!” she said, nearly hopping in place despite coming off a long and – by the looks of it – demanding shift. “Clawhouser told me you were there today! Is that why you wanted to meet?”

Nick nodded. He had waited until the last possible day, debating whether or not this whole idea was just a little bit too crazy. “I’ll be taking the bus to the academy tomorrow morning.” He gave her a sideway glance, half expecting to hear her laugh at him because wouldn’t any sane mammal laugh at a fox joining the police academy?

“That’s great! You’re all set then?” she asked and sat down on the wall next to him.

“All set,” he confirmed. Just a bit worried his hands might start to shake. “Bogo even wrote me a recommendation, because I’m just such a much-needed addition to the team,” he quipped.

“You will be,” she said, her voice completely devoid of sarcasm. He couldn’t bite back a small smile.

Of course Bogo had first wanted to play hundred questions about Nick’s past and it had taken most of Nick’s skill as a con artist to deflect them. He didn’t think he would have managed if he hadn’t been able to leverage the chief’s lingering guilt over dismissing his first rabbit officer a few months earlier against him. But all of that wasn’t something that Judy needed to know in detail. The background check was still being run, but Nick was confident that it would come up empty. The people who knew about him also knew to value discretion.

“I hope you will still be on active duty in one year, Carrots,” he said. “Wouldn’t do to have a partner who’s bound to her desk after taking one too many knocks to the head, okay?”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Please, we bunnies heal fast. This may look ugly now, but you won’t even see it next week.”

“I’m afraid I won’t be around to judge that.”

She cocked her head. “Why not? You’ll have Sundays off. I used them to visit the burrows, but getting back into the city should be much faster.”

No, he hadn’t known, which highlighted the fact that he had thrown himself into this new life with a severe lack of planning that should have him running the other way until he had sorted himself out. Instead he smiled. “I might.”

She gave his side a light jab with her elbow. “I’ll hold you to that, Slick. Otherwise it’s going to be a long year.”


	2. Chapter 2

There were times when Judy Hopps looked back fondly towards parking duty. It usually was when she had been sitting in a police cruiser for hours on end for a stakeout. At least parking duty meant moving around, talking to and sometimes helping others, while this just meant watching mammals from afar, playing songs in your head, and trying not to fall asleep.

Her partner of that week was a lot more at ease with waiting than her. It was probably what they called a predator’s patience. Judy glanced over to Officer Sheyla Serkov; the cheetah was sitting motionless and relaxed, a stark contrast to Judy’s fidgeting self. Serkov also wasn’t the talkative type, which piled some extra boredom on top of it. Right then, Judy would have willingly taken two days of parking duty just to escape this afternoon early. Not that the Chief would ever give her that option.

The radio crackled again and this time it was the message Judy had been hoping for: “Dispatch to car thirty-seven, your relief is en route. You can turn in now.”

“Ten-four, dispatch,” Judy shot her partner a quick look, who nodded. “We’re on our way back.”

The cruiser rolled out of the side street, waiting to thread back into traffic.

“Mind if we drop by Tommy’s on Flock Street?” Judy asked.

Serkov nodded. “Good idea, Hopps. Could go for a wrap.”

When they parked opposite of Tommy’s a few minutes later, Judy immediately jumped out, eager to use her legs again. She hopped in place a few times to get the feeling back into her feet. In the car, she had tried to suppress the bouncing after a few critical looks from her partner. But Serkov was right; an officer should be able to wait without making noise when needed. Other animals were unlikely to hear her in the inside of the cruiser, but what if they had to wait in hearing range of suspects next time? She’d need to work on that.

Judy, with her tummy already growling, jogged towards the restaurant, not willing to wait until her partner had found a gap in traffic to follow. Her mind already on the menu of tasty wraps, she rounded the corner, and nearly bounced into someone.

It was a ferret who was backing away from a hippo, who had his back turned towards him. Judy hardly needed to see the wallet in his hand to put the pieces together. As soon as she reached for her taser and zip ties, however, the ferret turned around, barely an arm’s length from her.

Judy later chalked it up to the endless hours of sitting around that he was still reacting faster than her. He twisted around, shoved her to the ground with his legs and darted in the other direction before she could get either of her hands free. Through the legs of the hippo he went and quickly was out of sight.

“Stop in the name of the law!” Shouting after him, she rocketed back to her feet and started to run. A bad start to it, but a little chase was just what she needed after today.

The sidewalk in front of them was crowded in the evening rush, as many mammals in business suits had just come out of the offices. Most seemed to be large mammals, and the ferret had no problems with banking between their slower feet. Judy could hardly see him anymore, but she could follow the sounds of surprise and annoyance he left in his wake.

Serkov must have heard her yell, and the cheetah caught up to her in a flash. “Hopps?”

“Ferret thief in green camo hoodie,” she relayed before concentrating on the crowd in front of her again, trying not to get stepped on in the mass of oncoming mammals. Could she still get eyes on him? Was there an alley into which he could have fled? No, and she didn’t believe he would run into one of the banks either. Where was he?

Her partner had scaled the cars parked next to the sidewalk and was jumping gracefully from one roof to the next to make progress. Judy kept her eyes on the ground; that shifty ferret might as well– there! Her eyes met with the perpetrator’s, who was crouching behind the back wheel of a car. “Serkov!” she called out before changing course.

Judy shouted at the ferret, but of course he wouldn’t make this easy on her, bounding back the other way again, but staying under the cars. Not taking her eyes off him, Judy raced around the car.

Even on all fours she was too big to run under some of the cars, and so she had to follow the ferret on the sidewalk, while also crouching down every few cards to avoid getting duped again. That low-life ferret was already three cars ahead of her, but she wouldn’t lose him! No one got away from her in a foot chase!

She nearly lost him again when he crossed the street. Only some squealing brakes and a horn alerted her to look over and see the shifty criminal vanish under another row of cars. Judy changed course, bounded off of an oncoming car who’s driver slammed the brakes, letting her legs carry her over the second row of traffic.

A small alley opened up opposite the walkway, but the shadows between the buildings made it impossible for her to see movement within. She ran to the entrance, unsure if this was yet another feint by the thief. But before she could see anything, her ears caught something. Like something was coming towards her. Multiple somethings!

She rolled off to the side and saw not one but two ferrets jump over her head the same moment. They split up and ran in different directions.

Ever more determined, Judy jumped to her feet and ran after the one who had gone left. He wore a similar green hoodie, but she couldn’t tell if it was the same that she had seen before.

Finally though, she caught a break when the ferret got surprised by a random citizen coming out of a café. He tried to worm himself between a couple of tables and seats, but only made it worse for himself. Judy quickly closed the last few meters and pounced on him as he was struggling to get free from the last chair.

“Ah! What do you want? You got the wrong guy!” he sounded panicked. “Dude held a knife to my face and told me to run. What do you want?!”

Judy held him down and gave him a quick pat-down. No wallet. And he did sound panicked, not winded. With gnashing teeth she hoisted the ferret up. “My apologies, sir, you surprised me. I’ll get whoever threatened you.”

“Yes, see that you do! It’s a dead-end alley! Hurry!”

She bounded back to the entrance. He wouldn’t get away! As she reached the entrance between the buildings again, so did her partner.

“Hopps! Wait!”

“Bystander said he’s still inside, but I saw another ferret run down the other way.” Judy quickly explained.

Serkov looked back the way she came from. “He’s long gone. Check the alley then, I’ll cover the exit.”

Judy slid forward, ears alert, straining to hear even a muffled breathing, but some heavy machinery behind the next wall made it difficult. She fully explored the alley, which only had one junction and two dead-ends. All doors were locked, the dumpsters empty. With a defeated sigh she returned to Serkov and shook her head.

“Hopps, this is not going to look good on the report,” her partner said.

“I know. I let him dupe me. That shouldn’t happen.” Judy breathed out heavily as they turned to walk back to where the chase had started.

“No, this is not what I meant,” Serkov said. “You ran ahead without me. I was to the end of the street and came back to find you. Had you stayed in contact with me, we would have caught them easily.”

“But I did call out to you,” she said weakly. “Guess you were already too far gone.”

Serkov shook her head slowly. “I’m sure I don’t need to remind you off your basic equipment, among which there is a radio. C’mon, Hopps, you got greedy. Happened in my first year as well, but I thought this wasn’t your first time working with a partner.”

Judy felt small as an arctic shrew now. “It isn’t.”

Her partner’s words stung, as true as they were. She had completely forgotten about Serkov once she was out of sight, and the thought of radioing it in wouldn’t have occurred to her in the middle of the chase. A cheetah and a bunny losing a ferret – Bogo would rip her head off!

“Let’s see if we can at least catch the victim and see what was stolen.” Serkov reminded her.

“Yes,” Judy said in a tiny voice. “Let’s.”

  
###  
  


At eleven hundred, a small blue shuttle bus stopped in front of Grand Central Station. Once a TUSK bus, it was gutted and repurposed after years of service and now only shuttled recruits to and from the Zootopia Police Academy. The doors slid open and out came a panther, a rhino, a wolf, and – to the wonderment of anybody who was watching – a red fox.

Nick flicked up his sunglasses, gave a smile and mock salute to Belford, the wolf, and quickly left his comrades behind. Keeping his facade of casualness he made his way away from the open plaza and into the darker side streets of downtown.

His nostrils flared with the long breaths as he took in in the familiar city air. Those mixtures of mammals, food and drama, telling their many stories to all who would dare to stop and take them in.

His stride became more determined as the streets around him were less densely populated. He only had twelve hours until the last shuttle bus would take him back, and they were well planned out. He crossed two more streets before sliding into a second row parking space and climbed a metal staircase to an unassuming door. A dark wooden board above the door read: ‘The Charging Boar.’

Inside was a quite bar room that smelled faintly of spilled beer, pipe smoke and a wide array of musks. A few patrons were sitting in pairs at the tables along the wall, some of them looking up and nodding as they recognized the fox. Nick went straight to the bar. “Hey, Harv.”

“You dirty son of a mole, Nick!” the wolf bartender grinned. “I thought you’d never show your face here again!”

“All in good time, Harv,” Nick said with this usual smirk. “I have simply been away for a spell, no need to get anxious.”

“There’s a dozen rumors on the street as to what happened with you. Most say Mr. Big finally caught up with you. Hah!” Harv came around the corner of the bar with two glasses of tonic and they sat at the nearest table.

“Every rumor has a kernel of truth, you know,” Nick chuckled. “But I’ll let you figure out which one that is.”

Harv scoffed. “What do you have to hide, Nick? Don’t tell me you come here to lay low?”

“You wound me, Harv,” Nick grabbed his own chest with one paw. “Here I am, looking forward to catch up with an old pal, and you start throwing around such accusations.”

“All right, all right.” Harv held up his paws. “I’ll reserve judgment until later – after you’ve left.”

“You’re a veritable sage.”

“But seriously, Nick, where’ve you been?” He scratched his meddled chin. “I’ve been hoping you’d be smart enough to never show your face in Tundratown again, but then you basically vanished from the streets.”

“Okay, okay, look… I’ve been keeping this on the low, Harv, so I need your word that you will take this to your grave, if necessary.” Nick’s smirk was gone now and he regarded the wolf very carefully. His words were a bit over the top, but that’s what you needed to make them clear to the old mammal.

Harv looked down, thinking. Nick knew that the wulf was too smart to let curiosity rule all his actions, or else he’d have never considered telling him. At least that was how he remembered him. Things might have changed, but he was still in business, and bartenders without discretion didn’t make it long in these circles.

Finally, Harv nodded. “All right, I’ll keep it to myself, as long as your secret doesn’t endanger me or the bar directly.”

“It won’t,” Nick said, now showing his smirk again. He leaned forward, dropping his voice a bit more. “You see, I’ve become a recruit of sorts… at the ZPD.”

Harv leaned back, his yellow eyes wide. Nick saw him digesting the words for a few seconds before he said: “Now that’s the last rumor that I would have lent any credibility to. But you’re serious, aren’t you?”

Nick had to chuckle at that. Most of these rumors he had sown himself to cover his tracks. “One-hundred percent.”

“Now I’m not so sure this little nugget of information won’t be of harm to myself. Nicholas Wilde a cop? What on earth possessed you to go down that road all of a sudden?” Harv crossed his arms looked him up and down, as if trying to imagine the fox in a uniform.

“Now that is in its own a rather long story, and probably one for another time. But you remember who saved this little bar from certain destruction, don’t you?”

“From that rutting boar, as if I could ever forget that night.” Harv shook his head. “I’m not saying you’re trying to undermine this little getaway on purpose, but you know how this would look for my patrons.”

“I do. That’s why I’m keeping it on the low for now, until I had a chance to prove it.”

“Prove what?”

“That I can make a difference, playing for the other side,” Nick leaned forward again. “A difference _for_ us, not against us. All of us who are meeting in places like this. All of us who never had a better chance than to stay on the Fringe. None of us would ever consider going to the police for help, even when we really needed it. You’ve been there yourself, haven’t you?”

The wolf slowly nodded, looking a bit surprised. But Nick remembered the mess Harv’s sister had been caught in a few years earlier. Harv hadn’t dared approach the ZPD, fearing retribution for himself and for her.

“I think that can now change. I can make that first step now, Harv.” Nick said intently.

Harv let out a long breath. “I see. Nick, I believe you. But this… well, I certainly hadn’t seen that coming. I’d only known you for a cynic, Nick.”

A small smile crested Nick’s muzzle again and he let his gaze wander around the room. “Long story, Harv.”

“I see.” The wolf chuckled. “I hope I get to meet her someday.”

That made Nick’s eyes snap back and narrow on his old pal, but before he could formulate a retort, the door opened and a badger came trotting towards the bar. With a nod, Harv stood up and went back behind the counter.

With a sigh, Nick emptied his glass and stood up as well. “See you around, Harv.”

He exited the building and sauntered down into the noisy street. One visit down, five more to go. Harv was the only one today who hadn’t known yet. The hard part had gone smoothly. The others on his list were just old friends he wanted to keep in contact with. Needed to keep in contact with.

But the end of their discussion kept floating around in his mind, as he walked down the street. Had Harv gotten a lot more observant, or was Nick slipping that Harv could guess at something like that? And if it was his own fault, was it the academy that had made him soft, or a certain gray bunny?

That was something he needed to figure out soon. Because life on these streets wasn’t about to become easier for him in the coming year.

  
###  
  


The late afternoon sun painted an idyllic picture of the abandoned dockyard. A small, lone figure in t-shirt, leggings and headband was the only thing moving – but moving quickly at that. Her legs carried her past empty warehouses, rusted boats in dry-docks and crumbled nets while she pushed her body to endure the heat of the day without slowing down.

She had chosen this new route for her daily run in advance, but now she was hardly seeing any of it, her thoughts spiraling back to yesterday. Trying to shake herself out of it, she gritted her teeth and pushed herself a little harder, her powerful legs propelling her yet faster, her breath coming quicker. She would not allow herself to fail like that again.

When the road in front of her was blocked, she spontaneously turned right, away from the water and through the gap of even more warehouses. They were broken open by decay and rust, but still somewhat beautiful in the setting sun. A memory rustled in the back of her mind as she emerged from them. A familiar note played in her head and as she was running along the side of an old road, it hit her. Her steps slowed down and finally stopped as she reached the crest of the tiny bridge over a long-dried-out brook.

Turned out she had been here once, six months ago. She put a hand on the brick work, the nostalgia of the moment catching up with her. It was the place that Finnick had pointed her to, when she had come back to the city, looking for a certain red fox. Had it really been only six months? No, had it _already_ been six months? She wondered if Nick had kept the old beach chair stashed away under bridge-

“Are you going to come down, Carrots, or do I need to get up?” a voice called out from below.

Taken aback, she leaned over the edge to peer down. There he was, sitting in the very same chair, sunglasses on the muzzle, yellow shirt half open and an e-book reader in his lap. She gaped for a moment, thinking the sun must have gotten to her after all, before shaking out of it and hopping down to him. “Nick! How…”

“Easy there, Carrots,” he smirked. “Take a deep breath.”

She tried to, then pulled him into a quick hug when he got up.

“Happy to see you, too,” he went on and pulled the chair aside and into the shade of the bridge. “But I think you need to get out of the sun for a moment.”

“No, I… how did you know… it was me?” she allowed him to push her into the beach chair.

“Rabbit feet, out running in this weather,” he leaned against the brickwork with the usual self-satisfied smile. “The breathing threw me off a bit, sounded more like a winded sheep, but let’s be real, what other bunny do I know that would stalk me out here?”

“Har… har...” She was still catching her breath. “Didn’t expect… you to be… here… again.” One last deep breath. “Thought you said you were running errands in the city before our meeting.” She took a drink from her water bottle.

“I was, and then I was done. Funny how that works, huh?” he stretched his limbs and realized he still needed to button up his shirt again. Judy smirked at that.

“So this is still your… retreat on Sundays?”

He shrugged and sat down on the foot stool. “It’s just nice to get some peace and quiet every once in a while. There’s not much of that in the academy, not even in the evenings, when you have to share a room with three other, younger mammals.”

Judy hummed, thinking back to her own time in the academy. She hadn’t really been bothered by that, seeing as she had to use that free time to catch up with the others anyway. Not to mention that a lack of privacy was nothing new to her, coming from a household she had shared with over two hundred siblings at any given time.

“But what about you? Out running, miles away from your apartment, on a Sunday afternoon in 35 degree weather?” he cocked his head at her, his smile diminishing a bit. “That’s a bit extreme, even for you, Carrots.”

“I…” her shoulders sagged. Judy had not expected this conversation. But it was hard to ignore the underlying concern in his question. Not with Nick. “It was a punishment. For being a dumb bunny.”

“Well then,” he clapped his hands, ears perking up. “Doing something stupid as punishment for… doing something stupid? That’s some flawless logic, Cottontail! No wonder they want you for overtime in Precinct One all the time!”

“Cheese and crackers, Nick!” But she couldn’t bite back a laugh.

“From the beginning then?”

She met his eyes, holding them a moment before nodding. “Fine. Since you’re so accommodating already, Mr. Wilde, why not?” She leaned back into the comfy chair (which smelled a bit of its owner) and began to recount how she had so gloriously screwed up what should have been an easy chase.

“So, of course I got chewed out by my partner in a few words, by the Chief in oh so many more words, and even Clawhauser only had a pitiful look for me when he heard that a cheetah and a bunny let a ferret get away on foot. And they are right in every respect.” She sighed. “Sorry that I may have hyped you up for nothing, Nick. It seems I am a rather inept partner.”

“Well, Carrots,” Nick now smirked in a way that told her what was coming. “I guess this might be something new that you need to get into your little bunny brain, but the fact of the matter is that you just cannot be a natural at everything. Shocking, isn’t it?”

Judy snorted. “Oh, right, of course! How silly of me! Just how I was such a natural at police work, right? Not like I ever needed to train hard for… oh. Okay.”

“I know you’ll get the hang of it,” Nick said. “Somehow you always do.”

That put a warm feeling in her chest. “Thanks, Nick.”

“I hear a silent ‘but’,” the too-perceptive-for-his-own-good fox said.

Judy sighed. “Well, it’s still eating at me. Sure, it’s not the first perp who got away, but it never really was my fault like this before now. I want to fix it somehow. Even if he just stole a wallet from some banker.”

“You had that lesson at the academy, too, right?” Nick asked. “I mean, you had to, since I got a refresher just some weeks ago: don’t carry these things into your free time. Compartmentalize. It’s a really useful skill, believe me.”

“I remember,” Judy gave a tiny smile. “I guess those fell under the secondary lessons which they didn’t really check for in the final exam.”

“Should have seen that one coming,” Nick sighed. “Just like little miss valedictorian to skip the important bits, because they’re not part of the final exam.”

Judy knew better than to try to defend herself when she knew he was right, so she just crossed her arms.

“Don’t lose your marbles now, Carrots. I’d be really miffed if I graduated in six months only to see that they had to put you to desk work after you burned yourself out on the beat.”

“Not going to happen, Nick,” she said earnestly. “I promise.”

“Good. Cause when I see the other recruits I would have to work with day by day, I’d rather ask for parking duty.” He mimicked sitting in what they called the ‘joke mobile’ at the precinct.

“That bad, huh?” Judy smiled, remembering the stories he’d already told her about the other rookies. “What happened now?”

Nick didn’t disappoint, of course, and launched into a tale of how Belford, a wolven buddy of his, filled itching powder into the laundry bag of another, only for the victim to swap the bags after an ‘anonymous hint’. The whole thing ended with three rooms of them doing ten laps in the rain at night, Nick among them. “Worth it, though,” he concluded.

“You can never resist a good hustle, can you?” Judy poked.

Nick laughed with an outright predatory grin. “You should’ve seen how easy they make it for me. It’s like giving fresh, dry wood to a beaver. No matter the situation, he’s won’t be able to resist it!”

“Are you telling me,” Judy asked with a wide grin, “that you don’t know when to quit?”

“Nah, that’s your thing,” Nick chuckled. “I just don’t know when not to start a little con. I do still know when to run away, however.”

They joked on like this for a few minutes, before Judy got up again. “I need to get going. It’s a long way back.”

“You could always take the bus,” Nick proposed with an eye-roll. “Next station is just a few minutes north of here.”

“I’ll take it easier on the way back,” she assured him. “And thanks, by the way.”

“Any time, Carrots.” He walked out from under the arc as well.

Judy eyed the fox up and down from the corners of her eye as she put on her headband and grabbed her bottle. The academy was doing him some good; even the long fur and loose shorts couldn’t hide that anymore. “You’re going as well?”

“Yeah, I think there’s another errand I can run,” he said casually. “See you eight thirty?”

“Olive Street Plaza,” Judy confirmed and waved goodbye before hopping up side of the creek again and back to the road.

On the way back, she noticed a lot more details of the surrounding dockyards than before.

  
###  
  


Nick emerged from the dusty, warm tunnels of the subway and took a long, deep breath. He hated the stingy, recycled air down there, the multitude of animal smells that just got mixed, filtered, and mixed again, until it was a meaningless, disgusting mush of odors that assaulted him whenever he tried to breathe.

He took another step away from the entrance and from the mammals streaming out around him and settled against the railing. The early night air of Sahara Square was fresh and inviting. This was the perfect time of day to visit. He looked up into the sky that could just barely be called night blue. Later, the desert climate would be too cold for a fox in Hawaiian shirts, but right now, the heat of the day was getting pushed away and mixed into the cold night that would soon settle onto the mini desert.

Being in these right places at the right moments was maybe Nick’s favorite skill in the city. He usually was quite protective of them, but now he felt he had somebody with whom he wanted to share them.

Pushing himself away from the railing, he got his bearings. Carrots would be overly punctual as always, which meant that he could rely on her already waiting.

He could do that now, he realized, rely on her without hesitation. The thought suddenly stood motionless in his head like a startled deer.

But why not? It wasn’t like she had ever stood him up. Six months had passed, and she had held him to their weekly meetings without fail. A social routine like that was not something that Nick was used to, but the Sunday breathers between the high stress of the academy actually helped a lot, and these evenings were like the blueberry jam in a juicy donut.

The fact that Judy had found him at the warehouse today – and by accident, no less! – was the biggest deviation from this routine in months. Nick was still a bit unsure how to feel about that accident though. The only person to know of that location had been Finnick because Nick knew that he would take this secret to the grave with him if necessary. Then again, the fennec had once told Judy, leading to their initial reconciliation; Nick still wondered if Finn just hadn’t given a damn about telling Judy or if he was a lot wiser than he let on. The thought made him chuckle.

But now somebody else knew and a part of him wanted to snarl, run, and set up shop elsewhere next week. But that part was the old, cynical Nick, he realized; a voice that had gotten ever quieter over the months as Nick was concentrating on the future again, looking ahead instead of back. There was more to look forward to now, he thought as he walked on, weaving between groups of larger and smaller mammals. And the past was better off buried and forgotten.

There she was, standing in the middle of the plaza, surrounded by a group of other bunnies. Nick shook his head and started towards them, but kept his distance. This scenario played out nearly every week, and Nick knew that she soon would - somehow! - notice his arrival.

There. One of her ever-moving ears suddenly stayed pinned in his direction, and without even looking she began to extract herself from the group. The other bunnies all waved, one even nearly bowing, and Judy turned around to him.

"Need a new pen for all those autographs?" Nick teased her.

She shook her head, smiling. "Hush, you. Let's get going."

"You could always tell the Chief you're tired of being on all those recruitment posters, y'know?" Nick could never pass up an opportunity to needle her about them.

"But I don't mind! You know I love inspiring more rabbits and other animals to join the ZPD. It's just…"

"The pedestal they put you on when they meet you, I know, Carrots," he said softly. "But that's not gonna change. You can't have one without the other."

"I guess…" she let out a long sigh, then changed the topic. "So, where is this infamous sushi bar, anyway? I've been looking around the plaza for a few minutes and couldn't see any signs."

Nick led her towards the gap between two hotels. There was a wall that didn’t belong to either building on the side if one looked closely, but devoid of any signs trying to attract street traffic. The lone door looked more like a maintenance entrance than anything else.

“You know, Nick, I was a bit suspicious when you told me not to dress up too much, but this…” She shot him a suspicious glare.

“Oh, ye of little faith,” Nick smirked and held the door open. They had to climb three different flights of stairs in a moonlit corridor and finally emerged on the roof of another building. He had withheld details from her on purpose, because…

“I'll be darned.”

“Eating those words yet, Carrots?”

Before them lay a small terrace staggered out over the slanting roof. Potted palms and bamboo lined the sides to hide the rough building walls and cheerful lights were hanging in lines all over the place. It had less than two dozen tables and was already well stocked with patrons.

“Nick!” A red panda had noticed their entrance from the bar on the highest level and was gesturing them over. “Great to see you!”

“It's been too long, Ori,” Nick said with a genuine smile as they shook paws.

“Word on the rooftops is that Nick Wilde is barely to be seen these days,” Ori laughed, his hands already back to chopping ingredients and rolling them up.

“Ori, I'd like you to meet Judy Hopps. The indirect reason why you haven't seen much of me these last months.”

The panda’s eyes went wide as his eyes fell on the bunny besides Nick.

“Ohh, yes, Officer Hopps, yes?” He reached over to shake her paw with both of his. “So good to meet you. Because anyone who can have such an impact on ol' Nick here is worth meeting in my eyes!” he added with a wink.

“Nice to meet you too. But I'm sure Nick exaggerates a lot.”

“Well, I didn't want to believe the rumors before, but now the puzzle is coming together. Nick Wilde is actually becoming a-”

“Yes, yes, it's true,” Nick fell in and glanced around. “We can talk about it later, Ori.”

“Of course, of course,” the panda retorted with a knowing smile. “Let me show you to your table.”

Nick ordered a bottle of rice wine and they settled in, silently basking in the view on the desert dunes that were visible over the other rooftops.

“This place is amazing,” Judy finally cooed.

“Wait till you get the food. It took a while to get reservations on a Sunday, as you can imagine.”

Judy looked back to the bar. “Isn't Ori the owner?”

“He sure is. And he knows every last mammal on this roof personally. He’ll get to you later.”

Judy looked around and chuckled. “Nearly feels like its own secret society, meeting up here on the rooftops.”

“That's actually not too far off,” Nick said, leaving her hanging as she raised a questioning eyebrow. He might tell her later, but in the meantime it was never a bad thing to keep Judy Hopps a bit distracted.

An ocelot waiter brought their wine. After a toast Nick settled back again and asked: “So, how was your week, Carrots? Apart from the one thief.”

“Oh, nothing out of the ordinary,” she began and launched into the events of a robbery on Tuesday where she had to wait for half an hour on a sunroof before being able to pounce on the unsuspecting perp.

“You're such a predator at times!” Nick laughed when she finished.

“Only when it comes to perps!”

“Well, that or your bad horror movies! You sure have a knack for tracking those down. It’s like you can smell the fake blood inside!”

In a highly eloquent retort, she blew a small raspberry at him.

“How about you, Nick? Still in enormous criminal training?”

“Never should have told you that,” he shook his head, smiling in fake ruefulness. “But no, the worst is over now, it's mostly training with the cruisers and the equipment now. And studying for the final rule book exam, of course.” He pulled a face to show his opinion on memorizing thick handbooks. “I mean, why would I need to learn these things, I could wake you up at three in the night and ask what's the wording of paragraph seven hundred fourteen-A and you'd still tell me.”

Judy opened her mouth and closed it again. He grinned, realizing how close she’d been to playing into his hands by reciting said paragraph. “We won't always be attached at the hip during shifts, you know?”

Nick mockingly held up his phone, and Judy couldn't help but laugh at the insanity of his logic.

“You'll make it through, Slick,” she said in a patronizing tone and patted him on the paw.

Nick’s smile on the inside was much broader than he let on. Without even realizing it, he had been fishing for that encouragement again. He would never let her know just how hard some of the parts of the academy were for him, but hearing that reminder, hearing that she believed in him, made it easier somehow.

They ate in silence for a few minutes until Nick noticed that a fine line of worry was showing on her face as she was staring out into the night. She was still thinking about the ferret, he realized with a sigh. That sigh must have been audible though, since she suddenly looked over to him. He bit his lip, holding her gaze, trying to decide if he should go ahead with it or not.

“What is it, Nick?” she finally asked.

“I… dug around a bit. The description of the ferret wasn’t very thorough, but there are three ferret brothers who would match the modus operandi you described,” Nick explained.

Her eyes went wide. “You did?”

“I was able to find something that might help you. Just as an anonymous hint, of course,” Nick clarified and showed her the edge of a folded sheet of paper before putting it out of sight again.

“That’s great! Thank you so much, N-”

He held up a paw.

“This case… it stinks, Carrots,” he said. “Before I give this to you, I need something from you.”

“Wh- okay?”

“These are some of the most… unstable mammals I’ve seen; even on the Fringe few like dealing with them. If the ZPD handles his badly and, say, backs them into a corner, things might go pear-shaped really quickly.”

“Oh. Well if they’re so bad, the chief is sure to bring enough backup.”

“I’m sure he will, but backup has a habit of arriving late, Judy, and I know you’ll want a front-row seat again to catch them. So, please, promise me you’ll be careful here.”

“I-”

He put the folded paper on the table, but pinned it with his claws. “Promise me you’ll know when to quit, when things go south. Because I know you still have that bad habit of putting one dumb investigation above your own well-being and I really… I couldn’t...” He shook his head, unable to find the right words. “Please?”

She sank back in her chair, a mixture of emotions flickering over her face in quick succession. “Nick, you know I have to follow orders.”

“No doubt, and I don’t want you to get fired for insubordination either, but buffalo-butt’s orders are usually on the safe side, and I’m not concerned about them.”

“Then what? I’m not suicidal or anything!” She cocked her head, as if to look at him from another angle.

“Well, then it won’t be a hard promise to make, will it?”

She held his gaze with an unreadable expression before she slowly reached over and put a small paw on his. “I promise, Nick.”

One, two, three heartbeats, then Nick nodded. “Very well. Take it.” He withdrew his claws so that she could draw it out. “Everything’s on there. But let it rest until tomorrow, please.”

“All right,” she pocketed it. “No more of it tonight.”

Nick released her from his gaze and nodded, more to himself than anything else. No turning back now. After a few moments he held up his glass for another toast. “Would be a shame to waste this beautiful night.”

“It would,” she smiled.

They settled back again, quietly enjoying each other’s company under a clear night sky.

  
###  
  


Convincing Chief Bogo was a bit easier than Judy had feared. It probably helped her case that the victim was a rather influential banker who was seeking the satisfaction of seeing the criminal behind bars. And this also wasn’t the first time that Judy had come in with an ‘anonymous hint’. Last time it had turned out well, but back then, the stakes seemed a lot lower.

Nick’s info was vague, but it was enough that it gave Judy a bad feeling as well. It made her remember the unexpected intensity in his gaze, the unusual directness in his voice, in which he had made her promise to be careful; it almost made her heart skip a beat.

But this was not something she could communicate to Bogo, of course.

Still, here they were, on Tuesday morning no less. Six officers, including Bogo himself, and a bomb squad on call, one minute out.

Nick’s notes had included a safe house location, a knocking signal, possible contacts for whom they could be working, and backgrounds on the three ferret brothers. After being cross-referenced with what was on file for two of them, the intel had prompted Bogo to call in the bomb squad. Two of them were connected to an impressive list of crimes but had never been convicted and only once had one of them even stood trial. He had to be aquitted, though, when most of the evidence (and the house-block it was in) had gone up in flame. On the sidelines was scrawled info on escape routes and lookout locations, probably added by Nick himself.

Unfortunately, since it was an anonymous hint, it was not enough to go in leading with a TUSK unit. So they had two detectives on point to establish visuals of the three suspects first, before the rest of them could move in to secure the house and hopefully the evidence in it.

“Wolford and Higgins are on the move,” came the call on radio.

They had just passed the cruiser in which Judy and Serkov were sitting. She and her partner were to cover the garage row behind the buildings and had to stay parked around the corner for now. Her partner looked over wordlessly and Judy nodded. Time to get out of the car. Not closer though, since they couldn’t risk being seen yet. They had to wait for contact before moving in. She took her issued net launcher (for the apprehension of small and agile suspects) and hopped out the door.

Judy was on edge. She had already been tense yesterday, but more because of the question of whether or not Bogo would allow all this effort on an anonymous hint. Even though he knew it was from Nick, he wouldn’t be able to write that bit into his own report. But all that waiting had paid off, and the chief had given out the plans for the early morning raid the afternoon before.

But that hadn’t put the bunny’s mind to rest. Just the opposite.

‘ _It stinks, Carrots.’_

Nick’s voice kept echoing in her head, as did the gut feeling she seemed to share with him about this whole operation. This was all too big for just some wallet thieves.

A few more tense minutes passed before their belts sounded. One long beep. Contact.

“Take point, Hopps. I’m five behind,” Serkov growled.

Judy rounded the corner and dashed ahead, jumped over the low garden wall and then over two hedges at once. She heard breaking glass ahead,  just where they had predicted the main escape route .  Of course, that  was when things start ed going horribly wrong.

S omething flew at her. Purely on instinct, Judy jumped to the left  and bounded of f the wall before looking back.  A bottle landed where she had just been running – and burst. Flames shot out in all directions, creating a wall of heat  that was rapidly advancing towards her. She barely heard Serkov cry out and curse.

Turning forward again, Judy saw that two ferrets had burst out of the window. One was running away from her, the other was climbing up the building. Without ever stopping, she leveled out the net launcher, set it to ‘wide’ and launched it down the street. Two hooks hit the pavement too soon, but the others made it over the fleeing ferret, so she hurriedly hit the button to reel it in. The line went taut, the outer wires snapping over the ferret and pulled him in. But he wasn’t caught yet, instead wreathing around in the net. Judy saw the glint of a knife.

She dropped the net gun, pulled out the taser and ran over to subdue him.

“Oy! What are you doing to me! I’ve done nothing wrong!” the ferret yelled.

“Freeze!” Judy yelled back. “You are under arrest for theft and attacking an officer of the law.” He didn’t freeze, so Judy had to employ the taser, before kicking the knife out of his hand. She had barely finished binding his hands when he spoke again.

“You got nothing on me, copper. Take a look, if you don’t believe me. You’re too slow… again,” he spat.

Judy's eyes went back to the broken window on the first floor where her partner was just jumping up.

“Clear!” Serkov called, looking through the window.

Judy pulled out her radio.  “ Bomb squa d , now!”

The third  ferret must have been caught at the front door, Judy thought. Then she remembered.

“Serkov! Above you!”

Her partner barely had time to look up before a brick glanced off her shoulder and sent her tumbling down into a hedge. On the roof of the second floor stood the other  ferret ,  already readying another brick. Serkov deflected it while lying tangled in the hedge, but Judy heard a nasty crunch.

She had no weapons which could reach far enough! So, she did the only thing she could think of: she bounded off a low wall, then a rusted pole, and let her legs carry her as high as they could against the wall.

She barely found purchase on the second story windows  and had to scramble to avoid  slipping  down the old, greasy stone walls. There was a cable attached to the wall, running vertical towards the roof,  which allowed her some better grip.  She grabbed it properly and swung herself towards the window.

The image she glanced at inside she would remember for a long time. There stood the third ferret in the middle of the room and on a pile of… small, brick-shaped packages? Then a flash – a wave that nearly shook her off the building hit the wall. The cable was her last hold again, but now she was swinging back and forth, unable to stop herself. 

And w hen she  came  back towards the window, she saw the  roaring  fire that had enveloped the room. Flash-over they called it, and within seconds it would– 

S he pushed herself off again, just in time as the window  burst outwards incred ib ly loudly and flames shot out where she had just been hanging  against the frame . The heat  enveloped her  instantly , drove the air from her lungs , but she couldn’t let go. On the first floor, more windows were bursting, and fire was licking up towards her.  She tried to get air, but  smoke and ash  made her cough.

“Too slow, coppers,” came a hate-filled voice from above.

Judy struggled, desperate to get up higher, the roof her only chance. But her feet were getting hot already, as flames from the first floor licked higher and higher. She managed to pull herself up a bit. Only a few paw-widths remained and she’d be able to grab the edge.

Flames flared on both of her sides now. Only three more grabs.

“Hopps, jump!”

“Always too slow.” The voice sounded further off already, or maybe it was the heat getting to her ears.

Two more grabs.

She could barely see now. There was no escape left.

‘ _Promise me!’_

Judy pulled her legs up as far as she could and bounded off, straight away from the wall, not even able to look where she would land. A seemingly endless moment of falling came after.

The impact shot stars before her eyes, flipped her over multiple times, and dropped her off the garage roof onto a garbage container. All air from her lungs seemed gone and she blacked out for a second. The next moment some other officer was helping her up and leading her towards the ambulance.

Moments of dizziness followed. Lights seemed too bright, the world was moving on its own. She couldn’t focus a single thought.

The next thing she clearly remembered was the feeling of fresh, clean air in her lungs, after someone gave her an oxygen mask. She was patted down by a medic, but she quickly assured them that she was fine. A few singed eyebrows were all she had come away with, it seemed. Wolford and Higgins leaning next to her on the ambulance, their own oxygen masks in hand.

Serkov on the other hand had not been so lucky. She was carried past Judy on a stretcher, her broken arm needing attention at the hospital. Judy wanted to put down her mask and follow her partner, but at that moment the chief was striding towards her. “Hopps.”

She stopped. “Sir.”

“Serkov was able to tell me you stopped one suspect from caving her head in,” Bogo began. “Good job. But did you see the last of the trio?”

Judy nodded. “He was inside when the fire broke out. I think he triggered it himself.”

Bogo took a step back and cursed under his breath. Something that sounded like ‘Fanatics’.

“Sir, did we get the evidence out?” Judy had to ask. All of this couldn’t just be a bust again.

“At ease, Hopps, we did. Not all of it, I expect, but enough to make it stick for sure.”

Judy gulped. “One of them got away over the roof, sir.”

“He will be hunted as a wanted criminal now, but not by us. You got one of them alive, that will be worth a lot as well. The rest is out of our hands now.” He turned to go and Judy slumped back.

She took a few more breaths from the oxygen mask. It’s over, she thought, watching the fire crew put out the last flames.

With a  weary  nod to the others she walked back to the cruiser,  which  she now had to drive back herself.  Tomorrow she would use it to bring  Serkov some flowers  in the hospital.

O nce  in the driver seat she reached  for  the ignition, but paused,  realizing her hands were still shaking. She balled them into fists,  the tension bringing back the feeling  where the cable had cut into them while she  had been hanging on for her dear life. Her feet could still feel the heat  and  the texture of the stone wall,  Her nose still  feel  the  irritation from the  smoke even though her lungs were clean again.

She was going to call Nick today, let him know the lead had paid off. But there and then she decided it would be better not to tell him all the details of this close call. Wouldn’t be fair for him to feel bad for helping. And in the end, everything had turned out fine. Yes, no need to burden him with it, she was fine.

With that decision in place, she reached for her phone.

  
###  
  


Fernando was torn from sleep when the door to his room clattered open. It took him only a moment to recognize the dark silouette against the lit corridor, which belonged to a familiar badger.

“We have a visitor,” Toffra said. “You better get dressed.” She barely waited for his nod before slamming the door closed again.

While slipping into some clothes, Fernando checked his wristwatch. It was nearly two in the morning, so Toffra had probably still been awake. The oryx expected no visitors though, who would want to speak to him at this hour? His sleep-deprived brain kept throwing these pieces of a puzzle at him but he quickly gave up and pulled his pants up before stalking to the door.

He pulled it open and had to look left and right to see who was waiting. One the one side stood his second-in-command Toffra, a very guarded look on her face, and opposite of her stood Will Dersil, one of the ferrets they had hired last week. Now some alarm bells started ringing in Fernando’s head, but he didn’t let it show. “Please come in,” he said as politely as ever.

The ferret just nodded and followed first, as Toffra intentionally hung back. She probably didn’t want to turn her back on him, Fernando thought, but he could hardly blame here in this case. He sat down on a crate and guestured for Dersil to sit down on the other one. Toffra just leaned against the wall with arms crossed instead of pulling up another crate in her size.

“This is an unexpected meeting, Will,” Fernando opened. “What do you want to talk about?”

“So you haven’t even heard?” the ferret snarled. “Shit, haven’t you looked out of a damn window today?”

“Maybe once or twice,” the oryx said agreeably. “What news have I missed?”

Dersil leaned forward and showed his teeth. “Our safehouse has been compromised and I am the only one who got away is what rutting happened.”

And that was the last puzzle piece. That was probably the only reason why he would come back early. “What happened?” Fernando asked seriously.

“I don’t rutting know what happened. One minute we were laying low, the next we have some rutting coppers on our doorstep. They had the place surrounded and everything.”

Toffra snorted. “You steal a bugged wallet now? Or did they just tail you?”

Dersil twisted around towards her as fast as only ferrets can. “You shut your mouth! If there was any way they learned about the place it was because you have a leak in this hole!”

“As if!” Toffra began. Fernando held up a hand for her to stop but either she didn’t see or intentionally ignored it. “You just can’t own up to your-”

“I say,” Fernando interrupted her with sniding tone but not louder, so as to not wake up the whole house, “that this does not matter anymore. Will, since I have no other safehouse for you to use, this means our agreement is now over.”

“Great,” the ferret sneered. “You gonna throw me out?”

“That is not what I said.”

“You can’t be serious,” Toffra mumbled from the wall but a look from Fernando shut her up.

“You can stay here as every other mammal until you find a better place,” the oryx finished. “Which I assume you will want to anyway.”

“You bet,” the ferret said, getting up.

“There are still plenty nooks left for sleeping,” Fernando said after him. “I’m sure you will find one. Toffra, stay for a second, please.”

She looked after the ferret as he closed the door and only then walked to sit down as well. “Rutter was yelling at me as soon as he came in.”

Fernando nodded. “I expected as much.”

“What? Why?”

“I did see a news-blurb, it just couldn't connect it to anything up and until now. It seems that one of his brothers died in the police raid.”

“Son-of-a-” Toffra cursed under her breath.

“Indeed. So bear with me, because the least I can do is to give him shelter for a bit while he lays low.”

“Fine,” she sighed. “I’ll just stay out his way. Dude still gives me the creeps, no matter if he’s in mourning or not.”

“Since we won’t be getting anything more out of this operation, what do you think? Was it worth it?”

“From the loot they brought in? Yeah, that gave us a good boost of… a lot of things. It’ll take some time to dig through it all and make use of it, except the cash of course, but I think it gives us a fighting chance now.”

Fernando let out a deep breath. “Now that is at least something. Get some rest, Toff. Tomorrow will be a busy day then while we see what we can do with our new resources.”

“Don’t expect me to get up before noon.”


	3. Chapter 3

They stumbled into the bar room like two war survivors coming out of the trenches. Weary, weak-legged and she wasn’t sure if Nick was using her as a support or the other way around. Judy was glad for the moment the door closed behind them and shut out the sweltering summer air that hung over the Savanna Central even late into the evenings.

Some of the patrons followed them with their eyes, but Nick eventually nodded to each and usually received a short acknowledgement in return Tonight, Judy was silently grateful for this deflection of attention. After a day like this, she didn’t need more questioning looks about being the odd one out again, and even though she wasn’t in uniform anymore, she still seemed to be the only rabbit in this pub that was populated by anything between wulves and wildebeest.

Nick steered her towards the end of the bar where the higher bar stools were located. “Here we are. One last hurdle.” He let go of her and climbed up on the first one before holding out a hand to help her up into the second stool. She took it and heaved herself up, careful not to make any sudden movements that might strain her bruised ribs further.

“No backrests?” Judy asked. “I think I’d rather take a chair.”

Nick smiled knowingly. “You’ll thank me later, Carrots. If we’re too weary to sit here, it’s time to go. Simple as that.”

“Won’t take long then,” she managed a little smile.

“It’s Nich’las!” A stout bartender appeared behind them. Judy gave a small start; she hadn’t thought wildebeest could move so stealthily.

“Steve!” Nick turned around, just as careful in his movements. “I promised you’d see me again soon.”

“You look rough, buddy.” The wildebeest looked him up and down.

“Long day, Steve, long day.” He gestured to Judy. “Meet my friend, Steve: Judy Hopps. Judy, this is Silent Steve.”

“Nice to meet you, Steve,” she shook the bartender’s large hoof.

“Pleasure’s all mine, Judy.” He walked around them to get back behind the bar. “Nick has mentioned you on occasion, when it came to his new… employment. Seems like it is off to a hard start?”

“Oh, but I haven’t even started yet,” Nick laughed.

“He’s been helping,” Judy piped in, not allowing him to shift all credit to her.

Steve nodded knowingly. “What can I bring you to leave that long day behind?”

Judy gestured for Nick to pick something.

“Two mole chasers,” he ordered.

Judy took the time to look around. Most patrons were sitting around the long bar in quite conversation. She could hear the shuffling of several card decks and the rumbling of dice from somewhere further in. The air was free from smoke, for which she was particularly thankful this evening. One of the few, still active parts of her mind soaked in every detail. This was the first time that they’d come here, and Nick had hinted that he had a lot of history with this place.

“Nice bar,” she told Steve as he came back with their drinks. “Very homey.”

“Why, thank you. It’s been mine for nearly two decades now.”

“Has it really been so long already?” Nick said absentmindedly, grabbing his drink with both paws motioning for her to do the same.

“You two have known each other for long?” Judy asked while taking a whiff of the drink. It was strong enough to clear her sinuses and make her ears stand up straight. She saw Nick and Steve exchange a quick look.

“Oh yes, Judy.” The wildebeest started cleaning some glasses. “Young Nick used to come here a lot, especially when he got in trouble. Had to hide him sometimes.”

“That wasn’t too often,” Nick said. “Mostly I just came here to have a roof over my head.”

“You lived here?” Judy asked incredulously.

“Nah, I lived outside, most of the time. But I told you I slept in a lot different places.” He took a sip of his Mole Chaser and closed his eyes in silent delight.

“Yes, but… it’s not what I imagined.”

“It wasn’t half as bad as you probably picture it, Carrots,” Nick said with a wink.

She wondered if that was more to put her mind at ease or just him being his usual, teasing self, or… Judy didn’t feel up to puzzling that one out, not tonight. She took a sip from her drink instead. It was pure fire on her tongue so she quickly swallowed it. She sat up straighter as she could feel it make its way down into her stomach. “Wow,” she said with a little cough.

Nick watched her knowingly as she took another sip, this time prepared for the intensity. She felt a calm wash through her limbs and up into her ears. “Hey, this helps.”

Nick chuckled. “Cheers!”

“So, can I ask how you two got roughed up, if you’re not even on the job yet? Or is that confidential?”

“Nah, I think we can tell that one. Right, Flopsy?”

She nodded, the movement feeling a bit sluggish. “Sure. Investigation is closed now.”

Nick leaned forward and dropped his voice conspiratorially. “It began yesterday, when we went to check out the garden festival down in Riverside...”

  
###  
  


“Look at all the rabbits. You might think this whole festival is a family business,” Nick smirked, gesturing around the park area that was now filled with booths and vendors. Judy had mentioned maybe wanting to go, and Nick, fresh off the academy and not yet started on the force, had jumped at the chance to spend some time with her; subtly, he hoped. And maybe also see and be seen by some other mammals, now that he was back in the city, but that chance was seemingly limited to rabbits, hares, and some sheep.

“Are you saying we lapins all look alike to you?” Judy said in mock outrage. Nick of course knew she wouldn’t fall for such a low-ball.

“Of course not. But I am starting to think this festival is just a facade for some lapin dating scheme,” he winked knowingly.

Judy started a retort, but then suddenly put on a neutral expression. “You may have a point there.”

“Oh, so it is maybe not the promise of potted plants and fresh produce that lured you out here this evening!” His put an extra sly edge into his voice. “I suppose I am here as the charming wingman then.”

Judy tried to bite back a laugh.

“Watch out, Carrots, you are playing with fire here.” He raised a suggestive eyebrow and watched his partner burst out laughing.

But while his mouth was pretty much running on auto-sass, a small knot had formed in his stomach. That possibility hadn’t really crossed his mind until the words had left his muzzle.

“Yes, I suppose bringing a fox wingman is truly the most brilliant strategy in the bunny dating scene,” she spluttered, now holding onto his arm so as to not fall over from the laughter shaking her.

“They’ll never see it coming, Carrots. And this fox knows how to tear up a dance floor.”

“Now that’s a promise I am fully planning to cash in on at some point, Slick.”

“Someday, Cottontail,” Nick said lightheartedly, inwardly hiding his surprise. He should have been used to getting surprised by her after all this time, but he wasn’t. How did he always maneuver himself into these things when she was around? He usually didn’t go out dancing, unless a job was involved.

They walked among the stands of fresh produce, bonsai trees, potted palms and bushes and what seemed like to be the contest for the biggest tomato. It seemed some farmers had come from as far as the Tri-Burrows, while other merchants were from the city itself.

“Oh, look, they aren’t bunnies,” Judy said, pointing towards a palm tree vendor some way off to the left. The booth was manned by a gazelle and a young rhino.

“They must be bunnies on the inside then,” he teased, earning an exasperated look.

They walked in silence for a minute, Nick content to soak in the sights and smells that he usually connected to the countryside. Here he could get them without the need to leave the city he called home.

“I tried pestering Bogo again today,” she began, her nose twitching with annoyance. “But he just shot me down.”

“Still tight-lipped, huh? I think he just wants to see you sweat, Carrots,” he said, but didn’t feel the conviction himself. “Keep you in line for as long as possible.”

“I really hope it’s just that. I’ve been partnered with Francine this week, and let me tell you, waiting in the cruiser is even less fun if you can’t even see over the dashboard.”

“Are there pictures?”

“I sure hope not!”

He snickered.

“I really hope he doesn’t go back on his promise to partner us up,” she started again, looking crestfallen. “But why would he wait with the assignments? You start next week, one way or another!”

“Relax, Carrots. Nothing we can do about it now. I’m sure Chief Buffalo-butt will come through. He just doesn’t want to look like he’s playing favorites with the ZPD mascot.”

She huffed. “Guess I should have negotiated that when they came to me with those posters.”

“Maybe I’ll just get parking duty on the first week. You know, just like you did. Or would have...”

“Now that would make for some good blackmail photos,” she smirked.

“I taught you too well, bunny.”

“Oh please,” she rolled her eyes. “Which one of us grew up with over two hundred siblings around? I know a thing or two about blackmail.”

“Yikes. Didn’t think of that.”

“Dumb fox.”

Nick took a step aside to snatch some complimentary blueberries. “Hungry fox.” He popped one in his mouth and made a face of delight before giving a thumbs up to the lapin farmer, who just stood as if he’d seen a ghost. Oh, these country folks.

“I think I saw some food stands earlier. If, y’know, you don’t just want to munch on blueberries all evening,” she added with a sigh.

“City food already more to your taste? No simple carrots for you anymore?”

“Don’t worry, you don’t need to look for new nicknames just yet,” she smiled knowingly. “But these carrots here, well, they can’t really compare to the family farm.”

“Huh, I didn’t even consider- do your folks have a stall here as well?”

“Nah, not worth it. They’re too busy this time of year to deal with setting up here.”

“Too bad. I’d have bought their stock in blueberries for sure.”

“Nick,” she drawled, grinning, “you get free berries with every care package they send me.”

“Well, then for once I’d be able to thank them for it and give a compliment on the quality of their produce,” he smiled and nudged her in the shoulder.

She smirked. “I’ll pass it on, in those words.”

“Great.” They reached the end of the park. “So, are you actually gonna buy something here?”

“Hmmmaybe. There isn’t too much light in my apartment, but it would be nice to have a little more green in the window.”

She ended up buying two potted palms (‘yucca elephantipes’) from the gazelle she had pointed out earlier. They were big enough already that Nick had to help her carry them home.

“Grand Pangolin Arms, huh?” Nick said as they arrived at the front door. “Don’t think I’ve been here before.”

“Third floor,” she said apologetically.

All the way up the stairs, Nick could hear something that sounded like a distant argument. Only it came closer and closer until Judy stopped in front of a door.

“Is there somebody arguing in your room, Carrots?”

The voices stopped suddenly.

“That’s just my neighbors.” She unlocked the door.

Nick carried the second palm inside and put them down where she pointed to, and then looked around.

“Yeesh, they charge you money for this?”

“Aww, c’mon, it’s not that bad, Nick.”

The neighbors’ voices started up again, only this time Nick could actually make out the words.

“I told you it was bad!”

“Oh shut up, you’re never content anyway!”

“You shut up!”

“No, you shut up!”

Nick threw her an absolutely incredulous glare and gestured at the walls. “Are they for real or are they performing in there?”

Judy just shook her head.

“You know, if you’re just using this pad to crash at night, I still have a list of friends with a free couch,” he offered. “It’s quieter at the very least.”

“What? You can’t live off a couch, Nick!”

“Hey, don’t knock it till you’ve tried it, Carrots,” he sank into the lone chair. “I’ve been living like that for years.”

“Off one couch?” She asked, plopping down on the bed.

“Nah, several. Sometimes Fin’s van, but he snores like a bear.”

Judy shook her head in disbelief. “I thought you made enough money.”

Nick shrugged. “I did, but that doesn’t mean I wanted to spend most of it on rent. And my arrangements came with some other upsides.” He looked at her sideways. “Pick the right people and you pretty much have the space to yourself most of the time. All you have to do is help out a bit with groceries and cooking.”

“Sorry, I still can’t fully wrap by head around it. I mean, maybe if it were my siblings with whom I’d be staying? And just for a short time?”

Nick shrugged.

“And for how long did you live like that?”

“There really is no need for that pity I hear in there, Carrots. I was living rather comfortably, all things considered. But don’t worry, the ZPD basically forced me into one of their apartments now anyway, with the need for a fixed postal address and all that.” He stood up again. “I just thought you might be open to the idea, since you just use this place to crash as well.”

“I… guess?” she confirmed slowly.

“And you apparently don’t care about having your own shower and kitchen as well. At least they have that in ZPD housing, ‘cause let me tell you, sharing a bathroom with a badger and a ferret can get old quick.”

“That would be nice, yes. But I’ve seen the apartments they have for Precinct One. Gray, lifeless concrete, and the same view out the window.”

“So, you do care about it beyond a place to sleep, after all.”

“Well it would be nice, I guess,” she pondered aloud. “I just didn’t want to get my hopes up, seeing as how it’s hard enough to find apartments in the right height in this district.”

“I’ll keep an ear open,” he promised and stood up. “But speaking of bland apartments, I should head back to my own now.”

“Oh, yes, okay.” She got up as well, “Thank you, for helping me get the yuccas home.”

“Any time, Carrots. Catch you tomorrow?”

She nodded. “Not sure when my shift is over, but I’ll text you.”

  


###  
  


Nick had barely made it home, though, when his phone went off with the message: “Carrots wants Muzzletime!”

He scoffed for a moment, then sat down on his bed and accepted the video call. He had barely opened his mouth, when she interrupted him.

“Nick, is this your idea of a prank now?” She looked quite peeved.

“Whoa, hey there. What are you talking about?”

She held up a small, transparent plastic package in front of the camera. It took a moment for it to focus, but then Nick instantly recognized it. “Cheese and crackers, Carrots. Where did you find this?”

“Are you absolutely sure you didn’t put this into the potted earth, Nick?” she glared.

“Cross my heart, Carrots. That would be a very expensive prank indeed. And probably not one worth doing to a police officer.”

She sighed. “Okay. Sorry. I had hoped...”

“It’s alright. But this, if my eyes do not betray me, is some grade-A nip. Not easy to get a hold of these days. And you say this was buried in your plant?”

“Yep. The one you carried. The other one didn’t have anything.”

Nick chuckled. “So maybe it wasn’t my imagination and there really were more felines around that booth than one would expect.”

“Nick, be serious,” she scoffed. “These are highly illegal narcotics.”

Nick dropped the smirk. “What’s the problem? Somebody must have mixed up two plants when he gave you one. Happens more often than you’d think.”

“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised to see you have experience in drug trading as well.”

He chose to ignore that comment. “So, again, what’s the problem? Just take it with you to the precinct tomorrow and let them file it as evidence. Or ask the chief if you can look into it yourself, right?”

“I just… don’t know if I want to wait until tomorrow to hand it in,” she admitted, fidgeting around on the bed.

“C’mon, Carrots,” Nick said soothingly. “Now you’re overthinking this. Nobody is going to accuse you of buying illegal drugs for felines. But if they do, I’ll vouch that you really just bought a potted palm.”

She relaxed a bit. “Thanks, Nick. I’ll keep you posted tomorrow.”

“Sleep tight, Carrots.”

Nick closed the call and threw the phone on the desk. He’d forgotten how adorable she still looked when angry, a fact that he needed to hide from her at all costs.

  


###  
  


Judy filed the evidence first thing in the morning, together with a short statement. Then she got back to the small mountain of paperwork that had accumulated over her last few shifts. It was already afternoon when Chief Bogo came to her cubicle, folder in paw.

“Hopps. You think this narcotics vendor is worth checking out?”

“Yessir, the plant vendor was local to Zootopia.”

He nodded and gave her the case file. “Go ahead, then.”

Five minutes later she had finished the most pressing forms and ran out of the office. Francine was already gone for the day so she signed out a smaller cruiser and left the precinct, but not before calling Nick.

“Hey, I got the case!” she greeted him.

“Good.” His voice sounded as if he’d just gotten up. “You gonna talk to the owner?”

“Yep. But the festival is over and the shop is out west near the canals.”

“Pick me up in five?”

“All right,” she said with a smile and hung up again. There were many occasions where she couldn’t tell yet how her friend would react, even after a whole year of knowing him. It sometimes forced her to tread carefully when she otherwise would have barreled ahead. But here and now there had really been no doubt in her mind, no doubt at all that he’d join her, even though he wasn’t on duty yet and Nicholas Wilde would just as soon lie in a beach chair all day. She cherished the warm feeling that it gave her.

Half an hour later they pulled up to the property. ‘Hemmings Tree Nursery,’ the sign said. The eye catcher was a domed greenhouse in the center, which was apparently built around a large fruit tree. Other low buildings with solar panels sprawled out to both sides.

“I’ll do the talking, you observe,” Judy instructed.

“Want me to go in late?” Nick asked.

“No need. I’m just gonna have a friendly chat.”

He smirked. “Friendliest interrogator on the force.”

“We can swap sometime when you’re properly on duty.” She shot him a telling gaze. “Then I get to be the bad cop.” And she had been looking forward to that for several reasons.

As soon as they stepped inside, the earthy, warm and humid atmosphere enveloped them.

“Yeesh, bet you there aren’t many long-furred mammals working in here,” Nick quietly complained.

They found the gazelle from the stall yesterday sitting at the counter, reading a magazine.

“Hi. Officer Hopps, ZPD,” Judy introduced herself.

“Oh, hi! I remember you. Weren’t you at the festival just yesterday?”

“That is correct, ma’am. And it is kind of why we are here today,” Judy said, equally friendly. No need to spook a suspect, after all.

“What can I do for you, then?” Her eyes flicked to Nick, who leaned against a nearby wall, obviously unsure how to place him. Judy decided to run with it and not mention the fox.

“You are the owner of this shop?”

“Yep, that’s me, Holly Hemmings,” she confirmed.

“I bought two potted yucca elephantipes from you yesterday and it turns out that one of the pots also contained a small package of an illegal substance, ma’am.” Judy watched her closely as she said it.

“Illegal substance? What do you mean?” she asked, looking confused.

“Drugs, ma’am, an illegal hallucinogenic,” Judy clarified.

“Oh, wow, and you think I put that in there?” Her eyes went wide. “But why would I do that?”

Judy heard how the gazelle’s heart was beating quicker now. But it wasn’t clear whether it was from the accusation itself or the knowledge of being found out. “No need to panic, ma’am. We are just here to follow all leads and maybe have a look around.”

She calmed a bit at that. “Oh, gladly. And you will want to talk to my assistants too, yes? I’m afraid they’re not in today; everybody’s got a day off after the festival.”

“I’ll need their contact details then,” Judy confirmed. “Please don’t let them know that we need to talk to them yet.”

The gazelle nodded and scribbled two addresses on a paper before sliding it to Judy.

“Do you want to look around by yourself or shall I give you a tour? It’s a big place,” she asked, calmer again now.

“A tour is fine.” Judy nodded to Nick, who moved to follow them.

  


###  
  


It took nearly an hour until they were back in the cruiser. The sun was already starting to hang low over the greenhouse in front of them. He put his hind paws up on the dashboard and regarded his (as of yet unofficial) partner.

“I’d never thought there were so many smells for earth, Carrots. No trace of nip, though. Not on her, nor anywhere else.”

Judy nodded slowly. “Could be they just never opened the packages in there.”

“Very likely,” Nick agreed.

“What do you think about Ms. Hemmings?”

“She had no idea about it,” Nick said without hesitation.

Judy cocked her head. “You sound very sure about that.”

“I am, Carrots. Her scent and body language made it easy to read,” Nick explained. “And the former is not something you can fake so easily. She wasn’t even using Scent-Off, probably not expecting customers today.”

“You know about gazelle scents in particular?” she asked, sounding a bit taken aback.

“Been teaching myself biology for years, Carrots.” He grinned. “Everything to gain an edge in conning others, of course.”

Judy looked torn between disbelief and interest, as was usual when he hinted towards something in his past. “Well, good for you that you can still use all that knowledge now, right?”

“Good for us, you mean.”

“I have my own ways, Mr. Wilde,” she said, faking a snippy tone. “But yes, I had the same hunch here, so I think we can cross her off the suspect list for now. Which leaves… Jan Dremings and Willow Mindraw.”

“Dremings you say…” Nick hadn’t heard that name in a long time but it was oh so fitting it would turn up in a drug investigation. “Seems he hasn’t learned,” he sighed, looking out the window. That was just one reason why he hoped the past stayed buried. Suddenly these names came back, names that had once helped him, or, in this case, that he had helped; for naught it seemed, if Dremings was still involved in it.

“Nick?” Judy had already noticed how far away his thoughts had taken him.

“He’s been involved in drug-dealing once,” he volunteered.

“Sounds like a good next stop. We have an address, but no phone, though.” She noticed Nick’s sudden mood change. “What’s the matter? Was he a friend?”

“Nah, just a kid. He’s an ocelot who ran with the same gang as me at the time. I’d hoped he was smarter than to get mixed up in this again,” Nick sighed. “But sometimes, to survive, you gotta do what you gotta do.”

Judy nodded slowly. “You don’t have to see this through, Nick, you know? You’re not even on duty right now, you can just enjoy your last-”

“Judy, it’s all right, I’ve got your back,” he quickly said before he could give in to temptation. In truth he really didn’t want to come face to face with Dremings and confirm how he had failed to help him once, only to now put him behind bars. But that was no reason to leave his partner on her own.

She hesitated for a moment, then shook her head, an unidentifiable smile playing around her muzzle, while she started the cruiser. “All right. Let’s get this over with.”

They drove south into a poorer neighborhood, where the streets hadn’t been fixed in some time and the garbage removal only swung through when they were feeling like it. They reached the marked address, but as it turned out nobody was home. Nick talked to a neighbor who told him that Dremings usually came in late. They walked back to the cruiser, which was parked around the corner.

Nick was still thinking about other ways to find out if Dremings was involved. Maybe they could cross him off the list without meeting him? Unlikely, but he wanted to try anyway.

“Let’s try the other one, then,” Judy said, flipping through her notepad. “Female rhino, twenty years, lives over on Elm Street.”

“Actually,” Nick held up a hand, “I just remembered there’s something else I can check out here. Might find out something about Dremings.”

“Good, let’s start with that-”

“No, Carrots, it’s not a place where you want to walk in with a uniform,” Nick interrupted. “I’ll check it out alone, you go on towards Elm Street and I’ll catch up with you.” And the bonus was that she wouldn’t witness his meeting with Dremings if he happened to be there.

Judy looked like she wanted to complain some more, but Nick wasn’t about to budge on the issue. “I don’t like this, Nick, but okay. Text me if you need backup.”

Nick nodded and softly flicked her ear as he turned back. “Don’t get run over by a rhino, Carrots.”

He rounded the next corner and began changing his posture while walking. Instead of his casual swagger, he adopted a more hunched, inward-facing stance that said: I’m looking only out for myself, I’m not seeing anything else.

The streets became smaller and more rundown the farther he got, and so did the surrounding buildings. This was a part of the Fringe that even he didn’t like to visit. But he had to know, had to find out about Dremings, and this was the place to do it. So he pushed down the nagging feeling of being watched and continued his pace.

His target was an inconspicuous fox-sized door in an alcove. The room behind it was tiny and housed only a rusty ladder that went down into darkness. Nick took a deep breath while his eyes adjusted to see if anything seemed amiss, but the warm, dry smells of the tunnels below betrayed nothing out of the ordinary.

After descending the ladder, he picked a side and started walking. Cardboard boxes lined the walls and nooks of the tunnel, home to many a weary mammal who had no other place to call home. Nick glanced over those who were awake but avoided any eye contact. Farther in it got darker; lights had been removed, and only the mammals with good night vision were welcome here. He moved down a ramp into a bigger room and let his senses guide him.

Raccoon, fox, raccoon, wolf, fox, aaand Felix. Nick pulled up a box and sat down in front of the small sand cat. “Finn sends his regards.”

Felix huffed. “I know. Only reason I consider letting you keep your hide, Wilde. So make it snappy.”

Nick leaned against a steel column and chose his words carefully. “Remember Jan Dremings? He still around?”

“Maybe. What’s it worth to you?”

“You know the recent break-ins over at upper Harbor Street?” Nick waited for the sand cat to nod. “That was actually Mellix’ gang. Didn’t really want to steal anything, or so I heard. Just in it for revenge.”

Felix chuckled. “All right. Dremings has been around. I caught a whiff of him last month, but nothing more. No word about what he’s up to, either. Take that for what it’s worth.”

Nick nodded and stood up with a sigh. That could mean many things, from Dremings leaving the Fringe behind to him working for a bigger crime family. Nick moved back out of the room, thinking about finding another info peddler. Talking to Felix was cheap but he rarely had the latest rumors. Hanging around here for too long, on the other hand, wouldn’t be beneficial either. A quiet snarl from his left made sure he kept that in mind. Nick didn’t bother stopping to see who it was. He had wronged a lot of people in the past and if he stayed here long enough for a few to gang up on him, he’d be in serious trouble.

His phone buzzed and took the decision from him. One missed call, one second ago. Apparently, they had installed something for reception down here but it didn’t work too well. He picked up his pace to the nearest exit.

Back outside the sky had grown dark. He took a few steps away from the entrance and called Judy back.

“What’s new, Carrots?”

“Nick, they jumped me.” Her weak voice sent an instant alarm through his body.

“Where are you?”

“Never mind that.” Another cough. “I took one down and the other two fled, the suspect among them.”

“Carrots, where are you exactly?”

“I’m fine, Nick, really. Backup will be here in a minute, but I need you to head back to the nursery now.”

“What? Why?” Why did she have to be so unreasonable?

“I have a hunch our suspect will go back to get her stash, now that she’s been found out.” A silent wheeze that made Nick cringe. “You need to head her off now, or we’ll never get a hold of her again.”

“I’d rather pick you up first,” Nick countered. “And take the cruiser.”

“Too obvious. Take a cab.”

“I hate it when you’re making sense.” He began running towards the road.

“Text me if she shows up and I’ll send over some backup.”

“Got it. Now off to the doctor with you.”

“Take care, Nick.”

Nick barely registered the attention that his visible (sellable) phone had brought on him as he sprinted out of the neighborhood and towards the next street that would be frequented by cabs. Then he started jogging north, towards the nursery, in case none were around. But he got lucky.

A few minutes later he pointed his driver to stop opposite the gates of the Hemmings Tree Nursery. He shoved a bill into his driver’s hand and waited until he had driven off before crossing the road and slipping between the gates.

Once inside, Nick crouched low and began prowling towards the greenhouse. There was no new car or bike in front of the buildings that he could see, but that was no guarantee that the suspect wasn’t here already. But since Nick hadn’t seen any other large exits earlier today, he crouched down low in the shadow of the building and waited.

He didn’t have to wait for long before another, bulkier figure slipped through the gate and came walking up. She was probably trying to be sneaky, but there was only so much a rhino could do in that regard. Instead of heading towards the main entrance, she walked past Nick and opened a door into the large greenhouse. Nick slipped in after her before it closed.

As he had expected, she tried making her way through the large dome without switching on the lights, but in doing so stepped on a bush and two gardening tools. Nick almost had to hide a snicker at the inept display, but then he remembered what this rhino and her two friends had done to Judy and his smirk dropped.

The rhino went to one edge of the dome and tore out a berry bush before kneeling down and starting to dig. Up came an old rucksack, which was enough evidence for Nick for the moment. He quickly got out his phone and sent Judy a text message.

Then he stood up for the hard part. He had to keep her busy until the ZPD arrived. The perfect way would be to subdue her and leave her lying out front with the evidence, before making himself scarce. That would make it a lot easier on the paperwork for the chief than explaining what a civilian had to do with the case, and Nick had an interest in keeping him on his good side.

“Willow Mindraw,” he said out loud and watched her flinch. “Drop the bag and lie down, hands behind your head.”

She stood up and peered in the direction of his voice. “Who’s there? Show yourself!”

Nick was already moving to the side, behind the tree. He was looking around the room, looking for something that would stop a rhino without seriously injuring her. He came up blank. Talking it was. “We already have enough evidence. Give yourself up and you may receive a reduced sentence for pointing out your suppliers.” It was a reasonable offer that worked more often than not on small dealers. But Willow was either deeper in it than they knew, or she wasn’t feeling particularly reasonable today.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just work here.” She was moving back towards the door now, rucksack in one hand. Nick didn’t want that to happen. He could follow her outside, but the open ground would give a good advantage to a rhino compared to a shaded indoor area with lots of hindrances.

But how to stop a determined rhino? She wasn’t fully grown, but that didn’t make much difference in the thickness of her hide. Old Nick in the streets would have gone for the eyes when running wasn’t an option, but that might now kill his police career before it had even begun. But maybe…

He snatched up a discarded rake and followed her to the door, the place where she had to stop for a second. And once she did, he placed the rake right behind her right foot. “Stop right there,” he said, getting as close to her ear as possible for best effect and then quickly jumped back.

As expected, she turned around trying to catch him with a backhanded swing that would have knocked him out. Instead she stepped on and got a face full of rake, propelled by her own weight. Nick quickly darted forward again and tried prying free the backpack in her moment of surprise.

He got it, and flung it into another corner of the room.

Nick wanted to congratulate himself already, when the lights came on. Because of course the light switch had been right behind her.

“Now you’ve made me mad, fox.”

Not trying to look overly concerned, he took a few steps back and looked up. Three lightbulbs illuminated the dome. He had to switch them off again quickly. Or just destroy them. Was light property damage okay in such a situation? Cripes, this was getting complicated!

She came for him, quicker than he’d expected. This really was a worst-case scenario, as she was strong enough to knock him out in one hit and still a bit quicker than a fully grown rhino. Backup was probably ten minutes out. Long enough for her to break every last bone in his body twice and get away with it.

He feinted left and jumped right. Her hand snatched empty air but the other arm clipped him and threw him off balance. Still, he grabbed a small trowel while standing up and threw it up towards the nearest bulb. A shattering sound, and the closest light went out, plunging one third of the dome in shadows again. But not nearly dark enough that it would hide him.

Nick spun around again and saw that she had picked up the backpack again, holstering it properly this time. Which went to show that on top of everything else, she was still collected enough not to make mistakes. Great. He jumped towards the nearest table and picked up a three-pronged rake that was a bit longer than himself, and then some garden sheers. He didn’t have a plan, which meant he had to look like he had one. “Last chance, Willow. Give it up.” He pocketed the sheers and spun the rake over his head.

“Or what?” She clenched her fists and barreled towards him again. Again, Nick faked going left, but then he dropped low and put one end of the rake into the soft dirt and angled the other end towards her. She barely huffed and moved to swat it aside with a fist. He countered by angling it lower, which she countered by stopping in front of it.

“You’re no fun,” Nick mocked and darted around the table, getting himself enough time to throw the sheers at the second bulb. Two down. Something hit him, shooting fire and ice through his left side and nearly knocking him down. She had nearly speared him with that rake!

Wheezing, he dragged himself towards the tree, putting something more tangible between him and her. Where did those damn sheers drop? He felt her footsteps on the ground, doggedly following him.

“At least that bunny put up more of a fight than you, fox.”

Nick couldn’t help himself. His facade of casual superiority, already cracked by the hit, slid off completely and was replaced by something more feral.

“Oh, you know who I’m talking about then? Shall I tell you how many bones I broke?”

A snarl escaped Nick, very atypical for the fox, but he decided to run with it. Pouring more anger into the furnace, he imagined a little, broken rabbit body, lying by the side of the street. It made it possible for him to ignore the pain in his right side, and in one fluid motion, he hopped onto the massive tree trunk and grabbed on with extended claws before using the higher vantage point to hurl himself at the rhino’s face.

His opponent ducked low and closed her vulnerable eyes to slits, ready to catch him. But Nick was quicker, darting over her head without even trying to attack and was behind her. He picked up the fallen garden shears from the floor and tumbled towards the last light bulb.

A growling rhino and heavy footsteps were close behind him. But he could make it, he thought, and darted beneath another table. The last light source came in sight on the other end. He threw and twirled around, looking to catch the look on the rhino’s face. _Klink._ He’d missed.

A nasty grin spread on the rhino’s face and she barreled right into the table, knocking it towards the fox. Nick could barely roll away before it smashed into him. And still she came on, picking up the whole table now and swinging it like the world’s unwieldiest fox bat. He jumped back another step, but got clipped by the table edge and thrown into a hedge. That stung.

And on she came. Breathing heavily, Nick pushed himself up – and hammered on the light switch that was suddenly in front of him. The room fell dark, but it wasn’t over. She still knew where he was: in a corner.

Nick dropped back to the ground, staying behind the hedges and trying to calm his ragged breaths. Her hearing him was his biggest problem now. Should he go left or right around her? He hated such even odds but chose right, keeping his already injured side away from her. She turned and swung wildly, missing him barely. Then she turned the other way again, swinging blindly.

Nick darted forward and was already behind her when his foot kicked something – and it made a sound. Then stars exploded in his head; a sudden sensation of flying; pain. Lots of pain. He noticed rolling over the ground, hard ground all of a sudden, while his back was on fire.

When his head cleared a bit, she was coming through the door towards him. Which meant he was outside. Then he saw the hole he had made in the greenhouse glass wall. That probably explained his back pain.

She reached him in five steps. He didn’t have the strength to get up or even roll away.

“No last words? Good.” Then a bright light flooded both of them and he vaguely saw her stumbling backwards.

“This is the police! Step away from the fox and lie down slowly!” an unknown voice over loudspeaker shouted. Then officers were all around them, herding the rhino to the floor, telling him to stay still. One voice among them made him look up.

“Nick! Oh cheese and crackers, are you all right?” Judy was beside him. She noticed the glass and started picking it off him.

“Yeouch! Careful, Carrots,” he winced. “Don’t ruin the shirt, it’s my favorite.”

He saw a tiny smile fight its way onto her distressed face.

“Glad you came, though. It was starting to look a bit rough,” he admitted wearily.

“Lie still, medics are on the way now,” she chided.

And then Bogo towered over them.

“Why am I not surprised?” he huffed, voice dangerously low.

“Evening, Chief,” Nick began, trying to salute while still lying on his belly.

“If I were your chief right now, Wilde, you wouldn’t leave your desk for a year.” Bogo growled.

“Sir, he was a bystander in this case, nothing more.” Judy quickly said. “It was on my insistence that-”

“Shut it, Hopps. I haven’t asked you yet.”

He turned to regard the rhino that got lead away and nodded to another officer, who showed him the open rucksack. Then he turned back to them.

“Since you are not my officer yet, it is up to the owner of this establishment if she wants to press charges for illegally entering and minor property damage.”

Nick flinched. That might put a dampener on the start of his career.

Another officer came up to the chief, pointed behind himself and shook his head.

“Looks like you’re in luck there, Wilde. But my instincts tell me that I should put you as far away from Officer Hopps as possible, as soon as I can, just to avoid further incidents.” He stared down at him.

Nick’s smile fell off and he started to stand up, trying to form a plan in his head, anything to-

“But common sense tells me that would be a lost cause. Hopps?”

“Yes, sir?”

“Wilde is your responsibility, starting Monday. You better keep him out of trouble. Now take thirty-six off. I want your report and Wilde’s statement first thing in the morning on Friday.” He stomped away.

“Yes!” Judy, despite all her own bruises, jumped to hit the high-five that Nick was wordlessly offering.

  


###  
  


“And then he said,” Judy closed with a wide smile, “that I need to keep him out of trouble.”

“Yep. No more trouble for me, we heard the chief,” Nick confirmed with a wink. “That’s how it works now.”

“You two certainly could use a few days without trouble is what I’m thinking,” Steve said. “She didn’t really break any bones, did she?”

“No, it’s nothing that a few days of rest won’t fix, they told me,” she said.

“Oh, and by the way, Nick,” Steve said. “I remember Dremings, too. And from what I heard, he’s running with Sanchez now.”

“Sanchez, eh? Now that I can believe. Lots of cats at that watering hole,” Nick mused.

“He’s been recruiting a lot over the last months,” Steve went on. “Don’t know what’s going on, though.”

Nick waved it off. “Nothing to do with us. The rhino already confessed and it looks like Dremings wasn’t involved.”

“Who’s this Sanchez?” Judy asked. Nick really knew everyone, and catching up was harder than getting to know a whole rabbit family.

“Not tonight, Carrots,” Nick wearily shook his head, but she could tell he wasn’t planning on telling her tomorrow either.

Judy leaned closer, intent on telling him what she thought of his secrecy, but the movement nearly toppled her over and Nick had to grab her. “Hoh, bunny, and that means it’s time to turn in.”

“Awww.”

He caught the last drops of whiskey from his glass and put it down. “Steve, I’ll be around.”

“Door’s always open to both of you. Get home safely.”

And they staggered out again, still weary and tired, but the worries of the day now far behind them. They’d done it. The case was closed and the deal that had begun to form a year ago was now sealed. Monday was going to be a good day.


	4. Chapter 4

A lone police cruiser made its way through one of the narrower streets in Savanna Central. It was the smallest one the force had (which was still on the large side), and while the two officers inside usually considered the size to be just right, today it was a tight fit in these streets. It was one of the oldest parts of the city, and the rabbit behind the wheel had her hands full just getting through without hitting any corners.

“I think we’re being punished here, Carrots,” Nick said as he pored through the case folder. “What did you do to invoke Bogo’s ire this time?”

Judy huffed but kept her eyes on the unfamiliar roads. “Me? It couldn’t possibly be the sly remarks a certain officer keeps making during roll call every morning, could it?”

“Not a chance. He loves them.”

“Or the video that showed up of the chief’s dance performance from the Gazelle concert last month that some officers manage to keep referencing at every possible moment?”

“That video has never been traced back to me,” he smirked.

“Of course not,” she said with a knowing smile and checked the GPS on the dashboard, then triple-checked if they could actually turn left here, since one could never be sure in this part of town.

“Chief’s just taking himself a little bit too seriously,” Nick remarked. “Somebody has to lighten the mood every morning.”

She tried hiding her smile at his antics in roll call, but it was a losing battle and he knew it. Swallowing her response about serious police work (she knew he would have a response ready for that) she instead asked: “What’s so bad about the case anyway?”

He shifted in his seat and leaned over to show her the contents of the folder. It consisted of a meager one report card and a map marking out a sizable chunk of the area they were in. “I’m not sure how they classify this as one case. It looks like a whole heap of unrelated incidents in the area. We’ll be doing days of door-to-door work and I don’t have much hope that it will lead to anything substantial.”

The cruiser finally emerged on the plaza that was their destination: the Haymarket. It was surrounded by tall, old buildings that seemed to have neither beginning nor end. They were even built in arcs over the narrow one-way streets that led to and from the place, shaping it like one big, angular coliseum.

She steered them into a parking spot at the side of it, marked for public vehicles only, before turning to her partner. “So he probably wants you to get more experience in questioning witnesses. I went through the same things, you know?”

“Bogo has read my file, hasn’t he? Talking to people to fish them for information, that was pretty much half of my job description for a decade!”

She groaned. “It’s just S.O.P., Nick, don’t get hung up about it.” When he didn’t answer she looked over and saw the pensive expression on his face. Instead of asking, she snatched up the forgotten case folder lying in his lap.

Their contact was living on the side of the plaza, but from there on in, they’d have to walk. The streets that led north and east away from Haymarket could barely be called that and usually had no sidewalks. The cruiser would certainly not fit in there.

She noticed he was still staring outside. “Ready?”

He slowly nodded. “You been here before, Carrots?”

“Nope,” she answered cheerfully. “Anything I should know?”

He opened the door and made to leave. “Just keep your ears peeled.”

That was not something of which he needed to remind her. Judy could see for herself that this wasn’t the best neighborhood in Savannah Central, what with the old houses, and barely washed off graffiti, but she shrugged it off and followed him out.

Their contact, the mammal who contacted the ZPD about all the recent disturbances (“because nobody else would” according to Nick), was an elderly skunk.

“Yes, yes, it was me who called you, keep it down and come in, please. I don’t need to be seen with you!” Mrs. Florens quickly said at the door and ushered them inside.

“Thank you, madam. You said this has been going on for some months now?” Judy asked, while Nick kept a bit of distance. She could see him trying his hardest to not wrinkle his nose at the odor of the room.

“Two or three months, yes. I don’t care much either way, but my friend Betty, from the flower shop, has been targeted a few times now. Now, she has some weird ideas about all this, and I wouldn’t listen to everything she says, but do try and make sure she’s left in peace, please.”

“We’ll do our best, madam. Anything else you can tell us that might help?”

“No, sorry, officers, but I don’t want to get involved any more. So please make sure you’re not seen when leaving, yes?”

They left and looked up the florist, a little, crumbled shop that sold some produce, flower and herbs. Judy had to wonder where they’d grow them in these small, dark nooks and crannies that made up the ways through the quarter; probably on the roof. The owner, an old gazelle, was a lot chattier than Mrs. Florens.

“So I’ve been telling to Anne, it’s gotta be those Sanchez boys, they’ve gotta be having their fingers in this. Isn’t a shop that goes into business here without their permission, y’know? You better watch yourselves, officers, they don’t hold much respect for your kind.”

“Your friend told us you have been… blackmailed by these gangs?” Nick asked.

“Oh, it’s nothing, really. They’ve just been a bit cross about me selling some produce to my neighbors up north, so I gotta keep it a bit on the low for now. These young mammals always think they’re a bit cleverer than they are, y’know?”

“Do you have any idea why they would not want you to sell produce to them? Are they selling themselves?”

Mrs. Florens shrugged. “Don’t really know about that. Maybe they just don’t like’em. But I don’t pay much attention to all that anymore, I rather tend to my plants.”

While she knew a lot more gossip, they got no other leads from her, nor a more specific description about which neighbors were involved in this.

“North of here,” Nick mused. “I guess that reduces the search by fifty percent at least.”

“See? So much progress in just an hour,” Judy shot back cheerfully.

“It’s still a large area. And all these buildings here,” he gestured upwards, where the old houses seemed to lean in over them, blocking out even more sun than the already small alley allowed, “they’re all full of potential neighbors. No way we can ask even a small amount of them.”

“No reason to stop trying. We’ll head north and see what we can find!”

He took a deep breath. “As my senior partner commands.”

She couldn’t stop a small groan. He just wouldn’t let her hear the end of it, after she had playfully pulled rank in deciding which coffee joint to visit yesterday. “What is it going to cost me for you to forget that I said that?”

“I don’t think you can afford that, Carrots,” he shot back.

She huffed. “We’ll see about that.”

“Let’s start with this: we stay in for movie night today and I get to pick the movie.”

“Aww, okay then.” That would probably mean some really obscure movie about hackers, spies or heists. “But I wanna hear the rest of your terms before then.”

He smirked but didn’t answer.

They walked on, and Judy had to ask: “Are the alleys all like this up to the end of the Haymarket?”

“There are a few streets for larger mammals, as you can imagine, and a few more shops and storage units up north, at the edge of the river, but otherwise, yes.”

She hummed. “This place looks ancient, compared to what else I’ve seen in Zootopia.”

“Yeah, they’re not allowed to tear it down and rebuild this part. Something about cultural heritage or something. And renovating this from the outside probably isn’t worth it either.”

They passed through an arc and Judy saw graffiti staining the darker corners and ceiling where nobody had bothered to clean it. “So now it’s just old people living here, as Mrs. Florens said?”

“It’s definitely Fringe now, so there’s old people who don’t want to move away, and those who can’t afford anything better,” he said.

“Doesn’t seem like anyone worth intimidating by this ‘Sanchez’. Now where did I hear that name?” she pondered aloud.

“He’s a crime boss who operates out of the docks south of here,” Nick explained. “A bit like Mr. Big in some ways, but he gets his money mostly from smuggling goods and having his hands in everyone’s pockets around here. And just like Mr. Big, he keeps his illegal operations at arm’s length, hidden behind several proxies, so the ZPD can’t touch him.”

“So definitely somebody who could be behind these incidents, then. Anything else you know about him?”

Nick barked a short laugh that was so completely without mirth that it made the fur of her neck stand up. “More than I care to know and remember, Carrots.”

“So… you’ve had a run-in with him in the past?” she carefully probed.

Nick nodded. “You could say that.”

“What happened?”

He sighed. “I think that’s the other part of my terms for you.”

“Aw, no fair. If it affects how we do our job here, you can’t keep it a secret!”

“You’re right,” he admitted after a moment, slowly scratching his head. “But not here and now.”

She smiled and reached up to give his paw a short squeeze. “Fine. Take your time. But I don’t think you need to fear them anymore. Not with me here, partner.”

That seemed to lighten his mood a bit again, which was enough for the moment. She’d try again when they were off duty.

They wandered until the houses were gradually getting lower and the streets wider, when Nick suddenly held up a hand and stopped in front of an entrance and read the name plates on the mail boxes.

He looked over to her and said: “I just got an idea that might get us some better intel. Follow my lead, okay?”

Judy nodded and he sounded the bell. After a minute, a window opened above them and a brown bear’s head poked out. “What?”

“Hey Wiggin, ol’ buddy. Still recognize me?”

“Nick Wilde? Well, I’ll be damned. And in blue too! Here to arrest me now?” he laughed.

“Nope, just a social call. We were in the area.”

“Well, c’mon up then!” He buzzed them in.

“Social call?” Judy asked as they went up the stairs.

Nick winked at her and held a finger in front of his muzzle then pointed up, where the sound of a door opening could be heard. Judy nodded and went along with it.

“You always had a lot of nerve, Wilde,” the two-meter-tall bear chuckled as he led them inside. “But it’s still surprising you’d pull a stunt like this and switch teams. But who’s this?”

“Paul, meet my friend Judy. She got me this gig and makes the boring parts of it a whole lot more bearable, let me tell you.”

The bear smiled down at her with her with a frighteningly toothy grin which made a part of Judy duck for cover, but she pushed it down and smiled back. “Hi.”

Paul Wiggin chuckled and shooed both of them to a large couch, where they hopped up and sat at the front edge. Everything in this apartment was at least thrice as big as they needed it.

“So, you’ve been in the area, Nick. Well, they say bravery and foolishness live in the same cave.”

Judy cast an asking glance at Nick, but he just shrugged and said: “Somebody has to do it, so it might as well be me. I heard there’s been some more unrest in the last months. And when I saw you still lived here, I wanted to ask if there had been anyone bothering you lately. Any trouble at this edge of town?”

Judy wondered how the bear could possibly be at the receiving end of trouble. He didn’t have a timid attitude either.

Paul nodded slowly. “That’s why you’re in the area then, I guess. Somebody report that fire last week?”

“Not specifically, no,” Nick said. “Where was that?”

“A few blocks northwest of here,” Paul made a dismissive gesture over his shoulder. “Can’t have been that bad then. I just saw it on my way home.” He must have noticed Judy’s incredulous face then, because he added: “Small fires happen from time to time, but the residents usually take care of it themselves before it threatens more buildings.”

“People really don’t like to report anything around here,” she said.

“Indeed. We are all very self-sufficient here, and most of us see no reason to change that,” Paul explained.

“We were called, though,” Nick admitted with upturned palms, “I guess somebody must have felt threatened after all.

The bear let out a deep chuckle that reverberated around the room. “You know how things are run around here, Nick. Lots of thugs, trying to team up and fighting over scraps that get dropped from the table. I know how to avoid that drama, so I stay out of it.”

“All right then, that is good to hear. Well, if there’s nothing we can do for you right now, we’d better head back. Lots of reports to fill, buddy,” Nick said.

Paul held up a hand, “I am grateful for you looking out for me, Nick. And if I were to speculate wildly on what could have caused this recent unrest, I’d say it’s probably because somebody has given more work to these common thugs.”

“Thanks, buddy, we’ll keep that in mind.” Nick hopped down from the couch and Judy followed. “You know how to keep in touch, all right? Don’t be a stranger!”

“You two take care out there,” the bear rumbled and waved them off.

After leaving the house, Judy had to ask: “That was surprising. What’s his story that you’d think he’d need help from us?”

“Ah, that’s a long story with Paul. He’s actually making more money than both of us combined, if you can believe that.” He smirked as her eyes went big. “But he’s living in these humble conditions because he has an even bigger mountain of debt to pay off. And on top of that, he’s gotta keep his nose clean, since he already has a criminal record. Poor guy doesn’t even dare to defend himself in a fight if it’s not on the job.”

“What’s he working as?” she asked.

“Can’t guess it from his quick eyes, the alert stance? Personal bodyguard for the super rich.”

Judy nodded, the story coming together in her head. “And what was it he said at the end? Others having more work for the thugs? What was he hinting at?”

“I can only imagine Sanchez, once again,” Nick sighed. “He’s the only one I know in this part of town with enough money. Unless, of course, there’s a newcomer and what we’re seeing here is a new crime boss trying to establish himself and fighting Sanchez for the territory. That would fit, since this is barely in Sanchez’ reach anymore; he’s mostly focused around the docks in the south.”

“More fights, some arson, some shopkeeper intimidation,” Judy repeated, “yes, that could fit the bill. We need a name for this mysterious newcomer.”

“I don’t want to jump to conclusions just yet,” Nick said, holding up his hands. “This is just one possibility, after all.”

They stopped at a crossroads, another equally small alley crossing this one. Judy stopped and looked around, her foot tapping the ground quickly. “We have no more leads, though, or do you have any more old pals in the area you want to ask?”

“None that would talk to me,” Nick admitted.

“Then I guess we’ll have to do door-to-door after all,” Judy said. “How about you take the right block here, and I’ll take the left. Radio or meet back here when you’re done.”

Nick shrugged, obviously not thrilled with the more tedious parts of the job. “I guess that works.”

Judy had half a hunch that he wanted to say more, but then he turned away and walked towards the nearest house entrance and she took off in the other direction. It bugged her more that Nick was a bit anxious to be here, even though he did a good job of hiding it. She knew he was careful to pick fights and could talk his way out of a lot of situations, if the stories from him and Finnick were even halfway true, so how was this different? He was one of Zootopia’s finest now, and the uniform alone would discourage a lot of aggression. Or was it because of the uniform that he feared retaliation? She would have to bring that up some time.

After what she’d heard from Paul and Nick, she hadn’t expected much cooperation from the residents. But she had hoped for better odds than one in twenty that someone would even talk to her. If they’d even answer the door. She could swear that sometimes she felt she was being watched after ringing the doorbell and having nobody answer. Still, she soldiered on and hoped that Nick, with his soothing con-artist voice, would have better odds to get a foot in. A part of her still hoped that the house block would end soon.

It hadn’t ended yet, however, when her radio beeped up twice. And twice again. That was the signal from Nick’s emergency beacon.

Ignoring the cold lump that had suddenly formed in her stomach, she set off back the way she came from in a mad dash. It took her less than a minute to get back to the intersection, which was more than enough time for her mind to go through all possible scenarios, from Nick using the beacon to call her over because he was hungry and wanted to get lunch, to him lying unconscious in a ditch.

“No,” she growled and pushed herself harder, trying to keep an eye out where he could be. The winding alley in front of her was deserted, and her ears could pick up nothing.

Then she saw a leg poking out behind a corner. She rounded it, uncovering the slowly stirring body of a boar, a stun dart embedded in his belly. She hopped over him, pulling out her own stun-gun in the process and found herself only a few meters behind the rest of the group.

Five attackers were still standing, their backs to her – three pigs and two bigger warthogs. Nick, who had a swollen eye, was slowly backing away from them, brandishing his dart-less stunner to keep them at bay. But he would be up against the wall in a few seconds.

She dashed forward without hesitating, angling herself at the leftmost attacker. Only when she was but three steps away did she yell: “ZPD! Freeze!” The first pig she crashed into hit the wall hard, and Judy wasted no time in using her stunner the second one before she hit the ground. In the same motion she jumped back, keeping the last three attackers between herself and Nick, surrounding them.

Nick was quick to leap to the offensive, dropping the useless stunner and swinging his baton at the knees of the nearest pig who tried to face the new attacker instead of him. He tumbled and crashed into his friend, and the last warthog had to realize that he was the only one standing all of a sudden. He raised his hands in surrender.

After cuffing them and reading their rights, Nick went to radio for backup and Judy made sure the stunned pig was okay as well. Then they could only wait.

“How’s your eye?” she asked.

“It has seen worse. They just surprised me at first,” he gave a little smile. “You’re a force of nature, Hopps, you know that? That took only ten seconds after you arrived.”

“I’m glad I didn’t arrive late.” She sighed. “Nick, who are these animals? Why did they attack you?”

Nick looked over their shoulders to see that they were not overheard. “They aren’t from Sanchez outfit, if that’s what you’re wondering. But the warthog brothers there, well, they never liked me a lot. Might have lost a bit of money in a poker game to me once.”

“That’s what this is about?” she nearly shouted.

“They probably figured I was fair game, now that I’d switched teams.”

Judy still couldn’t believe it. “But they must know that would call the ZPD down to hunt them! Over some money lost in a game years ago?”

“Carrots, they’re already hiding from the ZPD anyway. Granted, they’re not the smartest bunch in the toolshed and probably don’t realize there are different wanted levels.”

She was starting to realize just how much he was risking by joining the ZPD. “Are you going to put in your report that they know you?”

He shrugged. “I don’t see a reason not to. If I started making a secret out of everybody who knows me, I’d need to keep flowcharts.”

The first reinforcements arrived and they went to work again. Between Nick getting his eye looked at and Judy filling out the paperwork and statements, their shift was over in a flash.

Judy felt, however, that the case was far from over for them. And with all the loose ends and open questions, she made a plan to get some answers before their next shift.

 

###  


The screen faded to black and the credits began to roll.

“Are you… are you aware I was planning on sleeping again this week, Nick?” Judy asked, still not moving a muscle.

Nick chuckled and looked down to the ball of fluff that had burrowed itself into his side. “Was it a dream all along, Carrots? What do you think?” He’d seen the movie four times now, but the first time was always special, always tense. And it caused him no small amount of satisfaction that this had gotten to her more than the horror movies she sometimes picked.

“Cheese and crackers, you know some messed up movies,” she said, starting to stand up and stretch. “Dreams within dreams, who can even come up with that?” She hugged herself, which caused a sudden desire in Nick to pull her close again.

“I was surprised you hadn’t seen it before,” he smirked, then noticed her still-forlorn look. “Aww, c’mon, don’t look at me like that. I didn’t think it was that scary. But if you can’t sleep tonight, you can always take my couch.”

“I need a drink,” she said, slowly shaking herself out of it. “Wanna head down to the pub for a bit?”

“I gladly will.”

She smiled and bounded for the door.

They exited the ZPD apartments where Nick lived and walked the one block distance to the Mugshot, a ‘round-the-clock pub that was frequented mostly by officers. A few familiar faces looked up and nodded as the two walked in, and Nick would happily have joined them but Judy pulled him to a small table at the window. They waited in silence until their beers arrived. Ale for Nick, and (uncharacteristially) the strongest stout they had on tap for Judy.

After a few thirsty gulps she spoke up again: “All right, now take my mind off this movie. What was that you wouldn’t say about Sanchez today?”

Nick felt like he just got dipped in ice water. His plan to make her forget the events of the day had apparently backfired. He sighed. “That’s not happening, Carrots.”

“What? Why not?” There was a hint of hurt in her voice that shot straight in his gut.

Still, he had to hold his course here. If anyone from his old life even got the slightest hint that Nicholas Wilde was starting to spill old secrets then his days were numbered. So even in a cop bar like this, even spoken in the the most hushed of tones he did not dare even hint at what happened between him and Sanchez.

It hurt him to do this to her, but he had no choice. It was for her own good, too, since otherwise, she might also have a target on her back. “Because this is between me and him and no tale for nosey bunnies,” he said, trying to put a little light to it.

Her glare told him it didn’t work.

He briefly considered just lying to make this easier on both of them, but shied away from it. “Look if you’re after old stories to make me uncomfortable, there are plenty of better ones. I don’t even need to think very long. Remember Dremings?” Oh Karma, was he really about to tell that one?

“Nick, how can you be so dense sometimes?” she interrupted. “I want to know what made you uncomfortable in the Haymarket quarter today so that we can fix it! Not make you uncomfortable with other stories.”

He let out a breath. “I appreciate the guesture, Carrots, I really do. But this is not something you can fix; not something that anyone can fix, really.”

“So you think. But you won’t know for sure until you tell me,” she insisted, leaning forward.

Nick just shook his head. “I’m gonna have to ask you to just trust me on this one. I know it’s hard, seeing as I’m just a sly fox, but I’m afraid I can’t give you more on this.”

“You were attacked today,” she pleaded. “How can you just shrug that off?”

He bit down a smirk, since he found that to be really rich, coming from the bunny who once told him not to worry because rabbits ‘heal quickly’. “As I said, that is completely unrelated, you have my word on that. The fact that there are a few mammals around who know me and still hate my guts is just adding to our normal job risk. But I’m not concerned about that and after today,” he added with an affectionate smile, that didn’t need any help in making it genuine, “we both know why I don’t have to be.”

That seemed to derail her enough so that she smiled back. But she wouldn’t be Judy if she got distracted that easily. “If it really was no big deal then you wouldn’t have been so anxious today.”

“Ah,” was all he could say. He looked out the window, since this part would be safer to explain, but not pleasent. It would be easier to explain to anyone else, but not to her. Judy, who looked at him with this unwavering faith that he totally did not deserve. And she did not deserve to have her faith in the uniform shattered. Nick gulped down the rest of his beer and motioned. “I could do with some fresher air; how about a short walk?”

She looked like she wanted to say something but held it back and nodded.

Outside he stretched and took a deep breath, reveling in the fresh night air. Then to lighten the mood, he offered her an arm, like a proper gentleman walking his lady home. She laughed at his sudden change in demeanor and played her part. They were both performers in their own way, he thought, even if the audience only consisted of each other.

“When I accepted the application for the ZPD from you and filled it out,” he began after half a block, “I hadn’t fully thought through what it would mean. Three months later, when we finally solved the Nighthowler case, and I actually handed it in… well, I had a better idea. I knew why I was doing it.”

“You wanted to help people,” she supplied. “Especially those living on the streets like you once did.”

“Exactly. But you can never predict all consequences of turning your life upside down.”

He felt a quick squeeze on his arm. “No, you never can.”

“So while I knew that some people were not going to be okay with it and others would, it was hard to judge how patrolling on the streets would be at times. Some behaviors, like evading certain territories, are just so ingrained in people from the Fringe that they never question it. Even I didn’t. But on patrol, I have to just push that aside now.”

“You foxes, always so territorial,” she quipped and Nick had to suppress a laugh.

“That we are, Hopps, no doubt about it.”

“So,” she said after a moment, “that’s why you were a bit anxious, trespassing in Sanchez territory again. Despite being an officer now.”

“You’ve seen it yourself today,” he said quietly. “Not everyone respects these uniforms.”

“I knew that, Nick. But they’re criminals,” she said. “I wouldn’t expect otherwise.”

He suppressed a sigh. No, she didn’t really get it, the fear and hate that many mammals had for anyone in uniform, even if they had done nothing wrong. But he preferred to leave her with a half-truth today.

They had arrived at the subway entrance, and she turned to him. “You’ve given me some things to chew through. Don’t know if it made sleep any easier.”

“You can always think about the movie then,” he said.

“Oh, you-!”

“You know I love you, Carrots,” he smirked, twisting their little ritual around.

She shook her head, and gave his midsection one of her headbutts. “I know. See you tomorrow.”

Judy headed down into the tunnels while he turned around to walk back to his apartment, hoping that this would be the last time the topic of Sanchez came up.

  
###  


They drove out to continue their investigation of the Haymarket the next morning. Nick was glad that Judy hadn’t tried to pick up their conversation from last night. Still, the evening wouldn’t leave him yet. He cast a glance to her while she was steering the cruiser in concentration, thinking how much better she deserved than the baggage he still had to carry.

They parked next to the river that signaled the northern boundary of the quarter. The buildings here were lower still, rarely more than two stories, and some wider warehouses were intermingled between them.

“Here we are,” Judy said, breaking the drowsy morning silence. “Anything to add to the plan?” She sounded more tired than he felt.

“You okay, Carrots?”

“Hm? Yeah, just didn’t… sleep very well.”

“Oh. Was it because-”

“No, nothing of what we talked about. It just happens sometimes.”

“Oh.” Not knowing what else to say, he got back on track. “Let’s get to it, then.”

It was a good plan that they’d made this morning, playing off the most likely scenarios they could think of and that would also allow them to stay in sight of each other the whole time. Probably. As planning went, Nick knew that few plans survived the first complication, but he was determined to do his job nonetheless. He pointed at the low wall opposite them, encircling the courtyard of a run-down two-story warehouse. “Let’s start with this one.”

They had reasoned that if there was a base of operations of a new up-and-coming crime boss in the area, it would probably be around one of these bigger buildings. Starting here, they’d try to find activity or lookouts and maybe tail them.

“Closed,” Judy stated, rattling at the iron fence door.

Nick stood next to her and peered inside. No sign of any mammals or that any of the leftover containers had been moved recently. “Maybe there’s a side entrance… we could scale one of those rooftops later and check,” he proposed.

“That might work, but I don’t know if that could get us in legal trouble.” She squirmed a bit at the thought. “Let’s move on for now.”

The next gate had a shipping container directly behind it, blocking the view of the court. “Suspicious,” Judy remarked.

“Probably won’t be the last we see,” he said. “But okay, not every small gang can move a large shipping container. Except if they have elephant muscle? Wanna have a look over it?” He offered his hands as a step ladder.

She nodded and put a foot in it. “On three. One. Two. Up!”

Nick nearly stumbled forward as her powerful hind leg kicked down, propelling herself up to four times her own height and against the gate.

“Clear,” came her disappointed voice a moment later and she dropped back down again.

“There’s still a dozen more, Carrots. No need to lose hope already,” he said with a yawn.

“The rooftop option looks more and more promising. From here we still might miss something that’s not obvious from the front.”

And after an hour of checking gates and seeing only a few mammals lingering around them, that is where they were headed, but…

“Nick, wait,” Judy called.

He was already halfway up the rain pipe and looked down, eyebrows raised questioningly.

“I can’t climb these slick things without gear, remember?” She held up her padless paws demonstratively.

“Right.” He scooted back down. “This won’t be easy for me, but I can try carrying you.” Her head hung at that. Judy Hopps did not like being carried. “If you don’t want to go back to the cruiser and get some gear first,” he added.

“Nah,” she waved the suggestion away. “We’ll try it your way. Don’t have time to lose.”

“Well, hold on tight,” he said and turned his back to her and back to the rain pipe. She hopped on his back and snaked her arms around his neck. The extra weight was not something he’d ever practiced climbing with, not even at the academy, and the bunny was pretty much all muscle underneath and heavier than Finnick holding two baseball bats. Reaching the top was a challenge, but he made it. He was panting, but he made it.

“All tuckered out already?” she teased him, while offering a paw to help him up. He gave a short snort in return, knowing that a crack at the weight would cost him more than it would restore his pride.

They sat down behind the edge of the flat roof, where a few chimneys behind them would hide them for the most part from the higher buildings and possible observers. From here they could see into three warehouse courtyards. The left one was empty and had enough holes in the side that one could clearly see it was abandoned and unused. The middle one was one of the few where they’d seen a few mammals hanging out outside. That seemed to be all there was to it, however. A few young sheep meeting in an abandoned lot to smoke and drink. The last one, however, was definitely in use, with a guard posted at the back door and signs of coming and going all around the building.

“Bullseye,” Judy whispered next to him.

“Definitely inhabited,” Nick said just as a pair of hares exited through the door, carrying a basket between them. Not what he’d expected.

They settled in to observe the place. Every few minutes some mammals would come or go out of one of the two side entrances. A zebra with a backpack came in, three wildebeests joking and talking among each other strode off without any hurry, two coyotes arrived, talked to the rhino guard for a bit before heading inside. Nick couldn’t make head or tail from it, until it suddenly hit him.

“It’s a commune!” he exclaimed, smacking his own forehead.

“Come again?” Judy asked, swiveling one ear to him while keeping up her observation.

“A cohabitation commune,” he explained. “If you can’t afford a place of your own, a lot of mammals have to settle for places like this, where lots of them cohabit. Just to have a roof over their heads, maybe some semi-legally-hooked-up plumbing and water if you’re lucky.”

“So the plants on the roof are them trying to grow some food of their own.”

“I’ll let you be the judge of that, Carrots. But while there are often a few criminals among them, I’m pretty sure this isn’t the upstart criminal empire that we were looking for.”

“But could they still be the ones who are harassed by Sanchez?” she asked, now turning fully towards him.

“Huh, good point there. They did post a guard out back, after all, if that’s what that rhino is.”

“Let’s ask,” she said, and was sliding down the rain pipe before he could get another word in.

He bit back a thought and hurried after her. While he wanted to tell her that these communes often existed in a legal gray area at best and would not be happy to see the police or any kind of official authority whatsoever, maybe it was better if she didn’t know it, because from the tone of her voice he knew she wouldn’t be dissuaded from the current course of action either way. He’d have to settle for making sure no bad surprises happened.

She jogged over to the side entrance and barely waited for him to be within earshot before continuing in and walking towards the rhino. Nick opted to stay back at the entrance, giving him a wider view of the scene.

“Hello,” she greeted the door guard cheerfully. He turned his head to look at her, but said nothing. “I’m Officer Hopps and I’d like to talk to you for a minute. Is that alright with you, sir?”

The rhino slowly nodded, once.

Judy took it as encouragement and hopped onto a nearby crate. “We’re looking into some disturbances that happened around here recently. Like the fire on the eastern side, did you happen to see that?”

“No,” he rumbled.

“Or any fights on the streets? If we can, we’d like to make your job easier as well.”

“Nobody bothered me.”

“Is there somebody else we can talk to, sir? Inside, maybe?”

“Nobody.”

“Will there be someone later?”

“I don’t know.”

“Mind if we look around?”

“Yes. I would prefer it if you left.”

“Very well. Thank you for your time, sir,” she said, still outwardly cheerfully, but Nick saw the slightly lowered shoulders, which made the corners of his mouth twist downward as well. He quickly hid that, however, when she turned and came back to him.

“Have a nice day, sir,” she mumbled to herself after they were already out of earshot.

“Aw, cheer up, Carrots,” he said, softly flicking a drooping ear. “We’ll find another lead.”

She sighed, but visibly picked herself up after a few more steps. “Right, maybe…” she trailed off. A pair of hares had just rounded a corner in front of them, carrying a now empty basket between them.

“Rieda? Alec?” Judy asked. Their pair looked up and simultaneously froze in their tracks. For Nick it was no question. They were the same pair that he’d seen coming out of the building at the start of their observation.

“Oh, hello, Judy,” the female hare greeted her as they came closer.

Nick had no idea how they knew Judy, but he could already sense the guardedness in their posture so he hung back again and instead focused on Judy.

“Hey, guys! Good to see you again, how are you doing?”

“We’re fine, Judy, thanks for asking,” the buck answered.

“So, that was you coming out of the warehouse back there, right?” she asked. The two brown hares looked at each. “Did you deliver something or are you living there?”

Nick inwardly groaned. She was treating this like a casual chat between friends and giving them easy ways out when she could be interrogating them much more subtly.

“Er, Judy, this isn’t maybe the best time and place to talk,” Rieda said.

“Yeah, we’re kind of in a hurry,” Alec added. “Maybe later?”

“Alright, that’s fine. Can you come to Savanna Square in the evening? We’ll be done at five.”

They were clearly reluctant but quickly relented; Nick smirked at the thought that even hares weren’t immune to Judy’s spirited attitude.

“I don’t think you mentioned those hares to me yet,” he said as they were driving back to the district.

“Rieda and Alec? I was assigned to a B&E some months ago and they were the victims. Somebody raided their workshop, stole a lot of handmade tools, that sort of thing. After I solved the case and got their tools back, they took me out for dinner.”

“That’s nice of them. I wish more grateful citizens would offer us free food.”

“Hah. It’s a rabbit thing I guess.”

  
###  


The messaging app of Fernando Hermanes’ laptop blinked up. The notification contained only two words: “Come over”. He wanted to ignore it for the moment, not wanting to get torn out of the mental gymnastics he was forced to perform while he regarded the web of gangs, affiliations and influences that he’d graphed in an attempt to generate some new ideas. But Fernando felt, on some deeper level, that he was all out of fresh ideas for the day. And it wasn’t even lunchtime.

The oryx rubbed his eyes and temples in an attempt to assuage some of the eyestrain that came with working on a laptop that was just a bit too small for him. But at least he could work on a laptop, he reminded himself. At least he didn’t have to go back to working with paper or keeping everything in his head.

He closed the laptop and stood up from the crate that had served as his chair. He still hesitated for a moment, not wanting to leave the laptop behind and in plain sight. Personal belongings in such a commune were normally limited to what you could carry on your person, and when leaving such a valuable item lying around, somebody would quickly find a new use for it. But that wasn’t the case anymore for him, and leaving it there cemented a bit of the trust that others had set in him.

He turned to the railing from where he could look down over the main hall of the warehouse. Choosing to work in the most open and accessible spot was part of the deal. Everyone could come to him or see him work here. At this time of day, there were very few members present, however. Most fled into the darker corners to sleep or were out trying to make a living of some sort or at least trying to bring back some food for the day. One of those darker corners was where he was headed now.

At a small office on the ground floor he stopped and took a breath before he entered without knocking. The inside of the room was even darker than the corridor outside, only illuminated by a monitor that could hardly illuminate the sole occupant on the chair in front of it. Just how Toffra liked it.

Still not saying a word, he moved over and sat down next to the honey badger. Then, she finally acknowledged his presence.

“We had quite the famous company a few minutes ago,” she said, her voice mocking cheerfulness, and pointed towards the screen. It showed an outdoor camera that a neighbor had once installed and probably forgotten about. Toffra had hacked it inside minutes and used it now to keep tabs on their back entrance, where Tenhouser stood guard.

“Shit,” Fernando said, as he recognized the ZPD uniforms. There was a bunny talking to Tenhouser and a fox casually leaning against the outer wall. After a few seconds of one-sided conversation, the rabbit turned and walked back to her partner. They quickly were out of sight. A slew of questions popped up in Fernando's mind, but he pushed them down and instead said: “Show it again.” Toffra rewound the recording, and this time Fernando watched the fox carefully. Nicholas Wilde, infamous con-artist now in blue. Fernando paid as close attention to his face as the low-quality recording allowed, watching his eyes dart around, his muzzle turn down and then back up as the bunny turned back towards him. It told him a lot about those two police officers. Only after he was confident of having seen it all did he turn to Toffra.

“The famous ZPD mascot Hopps and infamous ex-con-artist Wilde, in the flesh,” she said, drawing it out like a slightly bored announcer.

“You ask Tenhouser what they wanted?” Fernando asked.

“No, this was only a couple of minutes ago. Didn’t want to risk going out now and be seen if they’re still hanging around. The camera only catches so much,” she said.

He nodded; it was a smart and careful move. “Seems like they gave up awfully quick, though.”

“That’s what worries me,” Toffra admitted. It made his ears perk up. “But maybe they’re just here by accident. Checking out the whole neighborhood, y’know?”

“And maybe we can use them to our advantage,” Fernando mumbled, his mind flying back to the charts and graphs he had made and how two ZPD officers could fit into it best.

She let out an angry growl that quickly recalled him from his thoughts. “Don’t you dare, Fern, this whole situation is already precarious enough. A bit too much attention from the city, and we’re all on the run!”

“I’ll be careful,” he held up his hands, trying to deflect her angry glare. “You know Wilde, right?”

“Who doesn’t know Wilde? That smarmy fox made himself a name on the Fringe long ago,” she scoffed.

“Do you think he’s a threat?”

Her shoulders sagged as she turned back to the monitor. “No, not really. They’re just rookie beat cops. And I think Tenhouser will confirm that.”

He dropped a hand on her shoulder. “Thanks.” Before getting up he remembered he might as well check on the supply status. “Last night yield anything special?”

“No. We’re barely cutting even as it is.”

“We’re still holding out and getting better at it, is what I’m hearing. I have faith in you, Toff. I’ve known for a long time now what a capable mammal you are. Don’t give up now, please.”

She huffed and turned back to the monitor. “Take your silver tongue elsewhere, Fern. I need to work.”

Fernando smiled to himself and complied.

  
###  


At the end of the day, Nick was already waiting for her at Clawhauser's desk when she exited the locker rooms. It was unusual for him to be out first, yet it was probably a testament of how distracted she was. He had caught her up to the semi-legalities of most communes, and the thought had hit her that some of her friends could lose their homes if she handled this wrong and the city got word of the commune squatting the building. She’d tried to digest all that while in the locker rooms because now they were about to meet them again and she still didn’t know how to approach the situation.

“Wooo, Juuudy!” Ben hollered when she came in sight. “Nick was just telling me what I missed yesterday; rescuing him from six boars! Damn, girl, you’re a fury!”

She couldn’t suppress a small heat wave rushing into her ears. What kind of stories had Nick been telling him? “I only dropped two of them, Ben.”

“I’m telling you Claws, in another time, she would have been a Valkyrie,” Nick said with a wink.

“Ooooh, I can just imagine it,” Ben looked down at her with an awestruck face.

“You guys!” she said, though it came out more bashful than she wanted to admit. “When are you getting off today, Ben?”

“Oh, just another couple hours, Judy. See you two at the Mugshot later?”

“You know it,” Nick said, giving the cheetah a thumbs up.

“C’mon, you storyteller, I’m starved,” she said, dragging her partner towards the front door.

They settled for a small nearby restaurant that bordered the Savanna Central Park and ordered their food. Their table was outside between the sidewalk and the park, making them well visible. It wouldn’t be long now until Alec and Rieda showed up, but Judy pushed that line of thought away for the moment.

“So, since when have you been spreading stories about me, hm?” she asked him playfully.

“Just laying the groundwork for future legends,” he said as if it was the most natural thing to do.

“I’m sure this has nothing to do with playing down your own role a bit?”

She noticed the slight widening of his eyes. Bullseye. “It was all told to the best of my ability, Carrots. In such high-adrenaline situations, I’m sure you’ve heard how memory can get a little hazy.”

“Oh?” she leaned forward with a sly smile. “Then I’m sure you won’t mind me setting the record straight later this evening. Cause I remember well what I’ve been seeing, partner.”

“But think of your legend, Hopps! Don’t you want the crooks to tremble before you?” he gestured dramatically.

“No, Nick,” she grabbed his paw from the air. “I’d rather you didn’t sell yourself short.”

“Aww, Judy, I’m not. This is just how we roll, isn’t it? You draw the attention, I go for the kneecaps.”

She nearly doubled over from laughing. “Spoken like a true thug, Mr. Wilde. Why did they let you join the ZPD again?”

“I seduced the instructor, of course,” he said in a suave tone that caused Judy to splutter even harder. The thought of the stern polar bear instructor from the academy and Nick Wilde… she didn’t realize her foot was thumping against the table until it was too late.

“Yikes,” Nick pulled his chair back, unsuccessful in evading the spilled drink.

Judy was still trying to get herself back under control. “Oh crackers, Nick, I’m sorry!”

“It’s nothing,” he stood up. “I just need to wash this out quickly. Tell the waitress I’ll have another glass.” And he hurried inside, clutching his favorite Hawaiian silk shirt.

After she had ordered his new drink and cleaned up the table, Rieda and Alec showed up. “Judy, hello!”

She nearly flinched as her mind was brought back to the issue at hand that she’d escaped for a few minutes. But she quickly rebounded and looked up at the two hares. “Hey! Take a seat, you two!”

“Oh, well, we don’t want to intrude on your dinner, Judy,” Alec said. “We’re just…”

Judy waved it away. “I get it, you don’t need to eat anything, but if you want, it’s on me, alright? You two already treated me a few months back.”

“Thank you, Judy,” Rieda said and she and her husband sat down opposite of her.

“So, let’s catch up,” she began. “How have you guys been since I last saw you?”

Rieda sighed. “As you could probably guess, we’ve lost the apartment after all. Money was just a bit too tight after we had to rework all orders that were destroyed in the theft, even though you got most of our tools back. Thanks for that, by the way.”

Judy waved it away. “That was just my job, guys. But I’m sorry to hear it wasn’t enough.”

“It’s not all over, Judy,” Alec said in his gruff voice. “We’re still living in the city and could keep most of our regular customers. We’re doing fine like that.”

“That’s good to hear,” Judy acknowledged. “And I know you’re probably apprehensive about the commune. Nick told me about the legalities of them, and I wanted to let you know that we’ll do our best to not endanger your living situation.”

Rieda shared a quick glance with her husband before nodding. “Thanks, dear. It does mean a lot to us. I hope you can understand why we have to be so careful. If anyone saw us talking to you there, we might even get kicked out. There’s a lot of mistrust towards the police there, and we’re the only two hares among them.”

Judy nodded. “I understand. And-” Her eyes shot up as Nick came back towards the table and she scooted her chair over to make room for him. ”Right, I haven’t introduced you yet,” she said as she noticed the wary looks the two hares gave the fox. The red fox, who, to them, must have looked a lot like the robber she’d hunted down for them a short while ago. She kicked herself for not making the connection sooner.

“Nicholas Wilde, her partner at the ZPD,” Nick said with his easygoing smile when she hesitated too long before continuing.

“A-Alec and Rieda Guiness,” Alec said with a nod.

Nick nodded to each of them while leaning back with his new drink. “Don’t let me interrupt you. I’m just here for the food today.”

Judy shot him a suspicious glance, unsure what he was playing at now. “Right. As I wanted to say, as far as I’m concerned you’re not hurting anyone by living there. That’s not why we were in the area this morning. It’s about a series of disturbances that have happened recently. Fights, arson, intimidations. Would you have heard something about that?”

With the glance they shared, Judy could tell that they knew something.

“We know that it’s been happening. A few other members have been in scraps, and we now have a guard at the door,” Rieda said. “But I don’t know what else to tell you.”

“Do you know who is behind this? We’ve been over the map and these things do seem to happen the most around your warehouse. So if somebody is targeting you, we need to know who it is.”

“We’re… not sure. We’ve only heard things from others, and there seems to be no consensus. Some say it’s druggies, others say it’s small street gangs trying to control territory and we’re just in the way, and others talk about this Sanchez gang in the south.” Alec shrugged to show he had no opinion on who was right.

Judy sighed. “Do you have any idea why this is happening then?”

“Sorry, Judy, we don’t know,” Rieda said, ears drooping.

“Is there anyone we could talk to who does know?”

The two hares shared an uncomfortable look. “Please, Judy, you have to understand…”

“What?” she asked.

Nick dropped a paw on her shoulder. “It’s not something you can ask of them, Carrots,” he said softly.

“What? Why not?” she looked questioningly at Rieda.

“We might be kicked out if somebody found out! And I don’t know who would want to talk to the police. We could try to find out if things get worse, but please, Judy…”

“All right, all right,” she slumped down in her chair. “I’m not forcing you to anything, guys. But yes, please try to find out who might be interested in talking to us. Or maybe you can find out yourself why this is happening.”

“We will try, Judy,” Alec said. “We expect this whole unrest will blow over sooner or later, but the sooner, the better. There have been enough injuries already. Freddie won’t be able to walk for months, they say.” He sighed.

“Thanks. That’s all we can ask. You can call me anytime you have something new, okay?”

“Thanks, Judy. It gives me a bit of hope that the ZPD cares, even if nobody in Haymarket seems to think so,” Rieda said.

They excused themselves then and left for their own business, despite Judy’s insistence on some dinner. When they were out of sight, she turned to her partner. “Any new ideas from your side?”

He looked pensive, but shook his head. “Not much we can do now. If we get a warrant to get inside by force, they still won’t talk to us, and in the end might lose their home. So we can only wait until somebody is ready to talk.”

“Maybe convince Bogo to have some patrols around the area,” she mused. “That might act as a deterrent.”

“Maybe,” he admitted. “Would take a long time, and a lot of officers, though. Don’t think he’ll spring for it, with as little as we have.”

“Ugh, you’re right. Alec and Rieda would never give written testimonies anyway.”

Their food finally was brought out and Nick nudged her in the side. “C’mon, let’s eat. I can’t think like this anyway. We’ll figure something out sooner or later.”

She nudged him back. “After today, I’ll take it.”


	5. Chapter 5

Nick awoke to the rude buzzing of his alarm clock. Grumbling with irritation over having early shifts, he pulled himself out of bed and went through his morning routine. A quick shower, a (first) cup of espresso from the stove, checking emails. That was when the routine got derailed.

It had been over a month since he put the word out to find a new apartment for Judy, but responses had been meager to say the least. Cop salaries and rabbit size did not mix well if you wanted to live around Savanna Central. But now one of his contacts had finally come across something. And the offer was only a ten-minute walking distance from the precinct! The chance of a lifetime, one might say. It had just one hook attached to it, and that was why Nick’s finger was now hovering over the forward-button instead of actually clicking it and moving on with his morning.

It was a two-bedroom apartment. Too expensive for one cop’s salary, and she had made clear she did not intend to become roommates with strangers in the city. If she liked the apartment enough (and who wouldn’t?), there was a small chance she might ask him if he wanted to share the rent with her.

And Nicholas Wilde realized he had no idea how he should respond to that question.

Moving into the ZPD apartments, coming home here after a long day had made him appreciate the safe haven it represented. It was a retreat, a den, and in a very safe neighborhood (obviously) where he could relax and not worry about somebody barging in for once. Where he could be himself and drop all masks. It was surprisingly nice, after living on so many couches for so many years. Maybe it was just the new day job that made him appreciate it more, but Nick did not know if he could give that up again now and reduce his retreat to a single bedroom. Foxes were solitary creatures, after all.

And the last thing he wanted was for his partner to get sick of him. A little distance now and then was only healthy, and he could imagine no exception to that rule. Should he risk new tensions between them over a little less rent? That sounded like a really bad idea.

And then there was that little issue with him having a mountain of secrets that he needed to keep. While he had managed that while living together with others before, of course, he had an incling that it would become a lot harder with his observant partner.

And yet, now that he was thinking about it, imagining coming home to share a couch with her to watch TV, there was something strangely appealing about the whole scenario. He couldn’t pin down what it was, but then he had already clicked the button and it was out of his hands. He could always say no later, couldn’t he?

Shaking himself out of it, he got up and got dressed. No reason to be late. She probably wouldn’t see the email until lunch or after work anyway.

On the bus ride to the precinct he mused about what would lie in store for them today. It had been a week since Bogo forced them away from the Haymarket case, since it was making no more visible progress. All they could do was patrol the area and hope for something to turn up or act as a deterrent. And Bogo knew how much that usually helped in that corner of the city so he assigned them back on normal patrols where they had to deal with speeders, traffic accidents, minor vandalism, and (oh the horror) jaywalking. Sometimes the only thing that kept him from considering quitting and taking the gig in his own hands was Judy.

As usual, she was already there, sitting on the reception desk and chatting with Clawhauser.

“Morning, Nick!” She handed him a second cup of coffee with her usual smile, and he took it with a dramatic expression as if it were his salvation from certain doom. “You’re my hero, Carrots,” he said and inhaled the scent of sweet coffee from Stagbucks.

“I know you say that to everyone who brings you coffee,” she teased and jumped down.

“It’s never a lie either. Ben!” He gave the cheetah, who had followed their exchange while biting his lips, a wave. “What’s new? You seem excited.”

The God of Donuts looked from him to Judy and back. “Nothing, nothing new at all, my friends.”

Nick spotted Bogo coming down from his office motioned with his head. No time to puzzle out the cheetah now. “Time to get to roll call, Hopps.” But she was already past him.

Roll call came with two surprises at once. They were last on the list again, everyone else was leaving, and Nick had already begun to fear the worst (more patrol), when Bogo looked up from his list and regarded the two of them directly.

“Hopps, your name came up for recommendation for a promotion, and with your performance so far I am inclined to sign it. And yes,” he interrupted before she could speak, “it would entail getting a new partner on the same rank until Wilde can catch up with you.”

Nick’s brain stopped for a moment.

“With all due respect, sir, I choose to decline the promotion at this point,” Judy said without missing a beat.

His head whipped around to his partner, who kept looking at Bogo, but Nick did not trust his mouth enough to open it.

“Very well,” Bogo said evenly, moving on as if it was common occurrence for officers to decline their first promotion. “Moving on, we have a break-in at the new apartment building in Hill Street. See if you two can find anything.”

Nick realized at that point that his partner had already left their chair and taken the folder from Bogo. He moved to follow her, still feeling as if in a trance, and followed her out the door.

He followed her in silence, replaying what had just happened in his head two more times to make sure he had not missed something important. By then they had reached their cruiser so he gave up and simply stated: “You just declined a promotion.”

“Sure. It would take another year until you were eligible for it. And I thought that wouldn’t be a very fun year for us. Was I wrong?” She hopped into her seat and Nick followed suit.

“I…” He was speechless. Not just that she had declined it, and for his sake on top of it, but without even thinking about it? “Did Bogo hint that this might happen?”

“No,” she started the motor. “I figured that something like this would happen sooner or later. And with how well we’ve been working together these last two months, it wasn’t a hard decision to make.” She must have seen his still slightly flabbergasted look and added: “Seriously, Nick, don’t mention it. I’m being self-serving here, too.”

That caused a chuckle in him, one that quickly erupted into real laughter until he was slapping his knees and doubling over. “Aw, Judy,” he finally managed, wiping away some tears from laughing.

She shot him an amused glance and fiddled into traffic.

He couldn’t say it, couldn’t express it in any way, but in that moment she could have asked him to jump off a bridge – and he wouldn’t have hesitated either.

 

###  


When they closed in on their target location, it dawned on Judy what the Chief had meant by “new apartment building.” It turned out to be one of Zootopia's latest skyscrapers. Not as big as the towers at the northern end of Downtown, but definitely just as modern, all smooth facade and complex window patterns that ranked around it like vines on a massive tree. The Highreach Apartment Complex promised the height of modern living for mammals of all sizes – provided they made six figures a year, she mentally added.

Nick had been flipping through the folder during the drive and now spoke up: “You won’t believe this, Carrots. The victim is none other than Joseph Thaler, the venerated medical scientist.”

“Never heard of him,” she admitted and leaned over to have a look.

“Oh, I guess he wouldn’t be known so much in the Tri-Burrows, but this wolf is a legend on the Fringe, let me tell you. I can’t believe he is living in Highreach now. A few years back he was living in a hovel as small as my own.”

“What is he so famous for?”

“He created several low-cost vaccines for diseases that often hit the preds on the Fringe. Foxes, hyenas, ferrets, they all look up to Thaler.”

“But now he got robbed?”

“Yes, and I wonder if Bogo knows how much this case means to me,” Nick said.

“He probably does,” she said, hopping out of the car.

They crossed the perfectly temperature-controlled entrance hall and walked up to one of the medium-sized reception desks and asked the clerk if he knew where they had been called to. To their surprise, the hare behind the counter actually verified both their identities before nodding. “The client lives in B512. That is this way to the elevators for block B, then left once you are on the twelfth floor.”

They thanked him and looked for the elevators. Once inside, Nick said: “Well, that was new. Do you think they always put so much effort into security here, or only since after the break-in?”

“This can’t be good for reputation either way,” she said.

“Modern as it is, we will probably have a lot of camera footage to go through. Question is if they’ll just hand them over.”

“Let’s start with the victim, he probably won’t have time for us all day.”

They arrived on the twelfth floor. “How are there so few doors in an apartment building?” Nick asked under his breath as they went down the quiet corridor.

“Bet you the apartments are a bit bigger than ours combined, even these medium-sized ones. And this is just B-block, remember? Everything is medium-sized here.”

“But what if I want to have my elephant friends over for dinner?” he teased.

“Then you get to eat out.”

“Hopps!”

“What?”

“…Nothing.”

Then she suddenly got it and had to fight down a blush. Why did he always have to twist everything into dirty jokes the most inopportune times?

The door they were looking for was at the very end of the corridor, just before a large window that gave them a fantastic view over Downtown. She pulled Nick away from it and towards the door. “Your turn.” He gave her a sidelong smirk and pressed the doorbell. Half a minute passed until the door suddenly swung open – without anyone standing behind it.

“Do come in, please,” a disembodied voice told them.

Nick glanced towards her and shrugged, then went ahead.

A five-meter hallway behind the entrance sloped upwards until they found themselves standing in the middle of a single room that was larger than both their apartments combined – twice over.

“Over here,” came the voice from behind them. An ancient-looking wolf was sitting in a reclining chair, halfway up the tiered floor of the room. It reminded Judy of the ruins of amphitheaters she had seen once. But instead of a stage, the lowest point of the room led to a huge window that sat in the corner of the building. There wasn’t much to see however, since the glass was turned dark to ward off the morning sun.

“ZPD, officers Wilde and Hopps,” Nick introduced them and moved to meet the caller. “You are Mr. Thaler?”

“Correct, Joseph Thaler is my name, Officer. Excuse me if I can’t get up right now, my back isn’t as cooperative as it used to. But please, have a seat.”

“Thank you, Mr. Thaler,” Nick said and sat down opposite the small table, while Judy kept standing at a bit of a distance and looked around.

As Nick began questioning the victim about the usual details, she used her ears to listen in, but her eyes took in the scene. If anything had been broken last night, it was already cleared off, or was in one of the rooms behind the three other doors at the highest level of the room.

“…no, I don’t know how they got in, just that things were missing this morning.”

“Can you make a list of the missing items for us…” She tuned them out as Nick went down the checklist and moved towards the window. Maybe she could see something despite the darkened glass and – she nearly hopped back as a section of the glass before her became normal and translucent as she approached. Sunlight filtered through the rectangular area while the rest stayed dimmed. She turned her head towards the others, who hadn’t even noticed. This building was so modern she could hardly imagine what was possible here. And while that would be fascinating at other times, right now this could really complicate an investigation.

The view was towards the east and she could see the wall that separated Downtown from Sahara Square, but then she focused on the task at hand. Even right up against the window, no matter where she looked, the outside of the building seemed blank. There were no balconies or other nooks that one might use to climb around at this altitude. Maybe a window cleaner’s pulley on the roof?

“Thank you for your time, Mr. Thaler,” she heard Nick say. “Do you mind if we have a look around?”

“Go ahead, Mr. Wilde, I’ve let the system know you are guests for the next day. You can also come back when I’m out today.”

She looked up as Nick came down behind her. It surprised her to see a genuine smile on his face. She raised an eyebrow to ask but she subtly shook his head and took a look outside as well.

“This is going to be harder than I thought,” she said. “We don’t even know what’s possible here.”

“Agreed. We need to start asking some maintenance personnel.”

“How about you talk to them and to whoever has access to the security cameras, and I look around here and get access to the roof.”

“Why the roof?”

“I’m betting money these windows open as well, somehow. And getting in like this would be a lot more inconspicuous than through the elevator and hallways.”

He nodded. “Thaler said there was no broken window, but you may be right. I’ll radio if I get a confirmation on that from maintenance.”

“Thanks.”

“Later, Hopps.”

 

###  


They regrouped for lunch in the small cafeteria that was built into the lobby. While busy eating, the two officers watched the mammals that came and went through the entrance.

“So, let’s recap,” Judy prompted. “The room security is completely isolated from the building security to make it more secure.” A short snort from Nick. “The windows do open, but only a bit. I might be able to squeeze through, but you wouldn’t be able to. In addition, none of the roofs have any window pulley or similar things, and the cleaning is done automatically by floor and wall cleaning bots.”

“Cute little robots, until they try to clean your tail,” he huffed.

“Right,” she smiled at the mental image. “But I’m discarding the entrance through the window for now.”

“Which leaves us only with the front door. But the security footage is empty. Thaler left the apartment on seventeen hundred yesterday, returned at twenty two-ten, nobody went up to his door in-between. Elevator footage shows the same, just some residents who also live on the floor, I checked.”

“Does the room itself have security footage?”

“That’s the thing, Hopps. It should have, but it doesn’t,” Nick said. “Everything is recorded, that’s how this system apparently works and can recognize us and let us in without Thaler, but most of the footage is thrown away after several minutes. One camera in the main room should have kept the footage for a week, but it didn’t; since yesterday, according to the technician.”

“So whoever broke in had access to the system and changed it so footage of himself got erased again.”

“That is likely, yes. Remind me to never get one of these smart-home systems, okay? I’ve heard how insecure they are from some old friends already, but this trumps everything. A breaking-and-entering in such a state-of-the-art building and no trace left.”

“Me neither. It shouldn’t be possible. And I don’t see how it was worth it. All that was stolen were some small items. A wallet, but without much in it, some USB sticks, nothing that has enough intrinsic worth,” she said.

“Either it was a crime of opportunity, and they didn’t know what they were going to get,” he stated the obvious, “or there was some valuable research on those sticks, in which case we might be dealing with industrial espionage.”

“So he’s still actively working?”

“Sure is. Thaler won’t stop until he’s in the grave. He works nights, too, like yesterday.”

Judy sighed and pushed around her salad. “Sounds like we only found dead ends here.”

“Hmmm.”

“Wait, one more idea,” she said, coming to a new realization. “What if the security footage from the hallways didn’t show anybody coming in because they came in with Thaler himself and they were rodents hiding in a dead angle from him.”

“He’s a wolf, he would have smelled them, Carrots,” Nick said with a condescending smirk.

“He’s an ancient wolf in a wheelchair, Nick, he might have missed them. Or he could have smuggled them in himself.”

Nick flinched slightly at that. “You think he lied to us?”

“I’m not saying your hero is a bad guy, Nick,” she quickly soothed him. “He may have good intentions, but it would still be breaking the law.”

Nick’s sneer slowly dropped again and he nodded. “That is possible. Carrots, I didn’t think you would come to such a backhanded conclusion. I’m rubbing off on you too much.”

“Oh, please!” She smiled but her mood turned somber quickly. She could see how much it hurt him to think of Thaler like that. But they were running out of leads fast.

As if he’d read her mind, he said: “He’ll be back in a few hours, we can question him again. Or, you should, I guess, just to stay with the protocol.”

“You think you’re too involved for interrogation?”

He shrugged.

“Fine, the day you reprimand me on protocol is going to be the day I quit,” she huffed playfully, trying to coax him into a better mood again. “But we still have some hours to waste, so we better get started on the paperwork until then.”

“Let’s have a walk around the perimeter first,” he said, standing up. “Get a better look of the outside.”

“Have a nice stroll in the park while on the clock, you mean,” she gave him a small punch on the arm.

“Always connect the useful with the enjoyable, Hopps. We’re not breaking any rules here.”

No, they were not, she knew that. They were just bending them over backwards, but for the moment that was fine with her. It gave her time to think about something else for a bit and enjoy the sun outside.

“About that apartment, Nick,” she opened as they had reached the outer park area of the building.

She heard his surprise without looking up. “You like it?” he asked casually, a bit too casually to her ears.

“Duh, it’s amazing! And so cheap I’d be tempted to think there’s a catch I can’t see on the photos.”

“If there is, I’m gonna give Harv a piece of my mind. But I don’t think so, he is reliable with info.”

She shrugged, not having met Harv yet. “It’s a moot point if I can’t find somebody as a roommate first. Alone it would drain most of my salary.” She shooed away the thought that things might be different if she had accepted the promotion. It still wouldn’t have been worth it.

“With such a good apartment, it shouldn’t be too hard to find somebody to share it,” he said, tone neutral.

Why did he make it so hard to read him all of a sudden, she wondered. Did he not want to get involved? Asking him to split the rent had been the first thing to cross her mind, of course. He was the only one of her friends in the city who lived alone and wasn’t overly attached to his own apartment either. Not that there wasn’t a pile of reasons why this could go wrong quickly. Working and hanging out together all the time was still a long way from sharing a living room, bathroom and kitchen.

She had brushed aside all the reasons why her parents would likely advise against it, but there were still some more practical considerations. They had very different tastes in music and food, and both their species had a number of quirks – not all of which Judy would freely want somebody else to endure, or to know about.

She had slept on his couch once, after a movie night had ended in a particularly bad hail storm, and knew that while he kept his small apartment clean, foxes tended to dominate their own dens, both in behavior and smell. It wouldn’t be like living cramped together with so many of her siblings. All too many reasons to make a bunny hesitate, but she still wanted to hear his opinion on the whole thing.

She realized she had been silent for a while and said: “It would be easy, yes. But I wouldn’t just accept anyone, remember?”

“Want to put an ad on Buns-list? You’ll get a lot of applications but I’ll help you screen them.”

She sighed. “Nick, cut the crap. Are you interested in having a roommate again or not?”

 

He never expected the directness, even after over a year of knowing her. She indeed had this uncanny ability to cut through his crap. He gave her a small smile and continued walking. He saw her open her mouth to protest his evasiveness but he quickly said: “I’m thinking. A minute please, Judy.”

Her expression changed instantly to apology and she fell back into step with him. He was indeed getting good at anticipating her, just as she was at seeing through him. Whether or not that was a good thing was yet to be seen. It seemed dangerous on both sides, gave them both more leverage over the other. Did he trust himself to not abuse it? Did he trust himself to live together with the small bunny and not make her despise him in the end?

He looked up at the trees and the building they were supposed to be studying, as if they had an answer. He did not get one. He was looking for a reason to say no, he then realized. Today, of all days, she could ask anything of him after all, but if she knew that, she wouldn’t have asked on principle, fearing to take advantage of him when he couldn’t say no. He still didn’t let her know, couldn’t tell her how unfair the question was to pose right now.

But she wasn’t pleading with him, she had simply asked if he was interested.

“I am,” he said out loud.

“Good,” she said. “Then why don’t we have a look at the apartment first, and then see if it’s still a good idea for both of us.” Nick recognized a faint change in smell from her, realizing his answer had taken some stress from her again. That he had not expected.

“Sounds good. You give him a call while I will crank my neck to admire this beautiful building facade for both of us.”

“Always so hard at work, Wilde,” she mocked in fake exasperation.

  
###  


They were sitting at their desk the next morning, filing the last paperwork when Judy’s phone rang.

“Yes? Yes. Oh! We’ll be right there!”

Nick took it as a cue to log out and get up. “What is it?” he asked her.

“Another break-in in Highreach! This time in C215,” she explained, walking to the door with him.

“Great, this might be just the break we needed.”

She shrugged. “I know, but it was this night again. If the auto-cleaning systems have gone to work again already we might not find anything new.”

“But it means that it probably wasn’t Thaler,” he said.

“Probably, but don’t get too fixated on that angle, Nick,” she reminded him quietly.

They drove back to the skyscraper, went through the security checks again and talked to the second victim, or victims: a married couple of horses. Unfortunately, the cleaning systems had kicked in at night again and there were no traces to be found. Only that small electronics and wallets were missing from the apartment in the morning.

She was the CEO of Royale, a company producing a wide variety of fur shampoos, and he was a teacher. As much as Nick tried, there was no overlap, no pattern between them and Thaler, only that they lived in the same building, and that all stolen items were relatively small.

“Definitely the same perps,” Judy said as they left again.

“We should talk to maintenance again, see if they can stop that damned automatic cleaning each night,” he said, annoyed that they weren’t much further in terms of evidence.

“They can’t. They are controlled by the room systems, remember? We would have to talk to each inhabitant separately and I don’t think they’ll all comply.”

“Well, at least we know it had nothing to do with Thaler.” He sighed. “I just wish I could have helped him, y’know? This is why I joined the force, after all.”

“I know,” she squeezed his arm. “Maybe something else will come up. This wasn’t the break we were hoping for, but it may come yet.”

“So we’ll just close the case for now?” It stung. Since Nick had started working with her, they had never needed to do that for a B&E. Multiple break-ins in a rich apartment complex was one of the biggest cases they had worked on at all and closing it felt like a major failure.

“I’m sorry, Nick, I can’t think of anything else right now.”

“S’alright, Carrots. It’s not your fault, after all.”

“Cheer up, then, Officer Wilde, we have an apartment to visit later,” she nudged him slightly.

Curiously enough, it did make him feel a little bit better.

After clocking out that day, Nick didn’t change back into his usual Hawaiian shirt, but instead into some ZPD-blues he rarely used before joining his partner at the front desk. Clawhauser had the day off, rare as that was, and she was chatting with Higgins, who had taken the shift.

“Ready to go?” he asked.

She raised an eyebrow at this wardrobe but nodded. “It’s only a ten-minute walk, after all.”

“That’s probably the best part, yes. Are you already staking out the coffee and donut shops on the way?” he teased.

“Don’t you know them already?” she mocked.

“I’ve only been a cop for a few months now, Carrots, and these shops change owners so fast sometimes, who can keep up with them? Except for Ben, maybe.”

“Does he know you call him the God of Donuts?”

“In his heart he knows his true calling,” he smirked. “I am certain of it.”

She looked like she wanted to add something but then bit her lip. “Nope, you’re not getting me to trash-talk Ben behind his back. Bad fox.”

“You can just buy him a drink later, if you feel bad.”

“Mugshot is going to be a lot further away from here,” she mused.

“Welp. So they’ll see us a few evenings less. I’m sure they’d find a way to cope, somehow.”

They arrived at the building, which looked as old as the Grand Pangolin Arms from the outside, except for the windows. The owner turned out to be a relatively young gazelle, who had probably recently inherited it. She raised an eyebrow at the unlikely pair to tour the apartment but quickly let them in.

“I’m Miranda Sellton, come on in. May I ask what you two do for a living?” she asked as she led them upstairs.

“We are both working for the ZPD,” Judy said.

“Oh, I know you, you’re the one from the ZPD posters then?”

Nick saw her hesitate for a beat. “Er, yes, that is correct.”

“Oh, that’s great. My sister was talking about joining when she saw those posters last year. Do you think she might have a chance?”

“Everyone has, if they work hard and apply their strengths,” Judy said, a phrase Nick had heard her say countless times now.

“Here we are,” she opened the last door in the corridor. “It’s the best flat, and just renovated after my father moved out. Take a look around and holler if you need to know something.” She left them alone.

The room was at the edge of the apartment building, and since it was on the highest floor, they even had some south-side windows above the roofs of the adjacent building, making their living room not only spacious but also well-lit. The kitchen was small, but had some west-side windows for more evening light that filtered in right now. The two adjacent bedrooms and the bathroom had no windows in turn, but that didn’t bother either of them.

“Smells fresh,” he said after completing a short tour.

“Really good windows too,” she added. “I haven’t been in such a quiet room since I moved to the city.”

“It would need some new furniture, though.” He looked around the sparse living room. “But that’s not hard to find.”

She was leaning out a window, looking down. “Easy roof access,” he remarked, as he joined her. “Think we’ll need to flee some day?”

She shot him a short smile but it faded fast. “Nick…”

“Hm?”

“Do you want this?” Again with this unnatural directness.

He shrugged and said: “There’s a lot to like here, no doubt about it.”

She hopped up to sit on the window still, getting on the same eye level as him. “We don’t have to do this. We both don’t need to, since we’re not in any danger of losing our old apartments.”

He nodded and looked out the window again. “You want this then? No doubts about it?”

“I have some doubts,” she admitted.

“Doubts are good, Carrots. Makes you remember you’re not blinding yourself.”

“But the more I think about it, the more I want to try. Because it’s you, Nick. Why wouldn’t I want to try?” she beamed.

He quickly looked away and out of the window. Her infectious smile might have gotten to him, but he would not– he quickly blinked a few times. There was really no way he deserved to have such an awesome bunny in his life. Someone who even accepted the shadier parts of his past without question. Maybe, just maybe it could be different this time around. Two decades on the streets couldn’t accumulate enough karma, he was sure.

But in the end, he was a con artist at heart. And if opportunity knocked, he was ready to seize it. “Let’s do it, Flu-oof!” Her hug nearly knocked him off his feet. “Oh, you bunnies,” Nick smiled, fighting to keep control over his voice and returning the hug.

“Thank you, Nick. We’re not going to regret this.”

“You want to add a ‘there’s no way this could possibly go wrong’ on top of it?”

A jab to his side was the only answer he got.

  
###  


Once the decision was made, they didn’t waste time. Their leases weren’t up until the end of the month, but Ms. Sellton let them move in as soon as they wanted, provided they would sign now and pay for half a month. And so their next two days off were spent with hunting down cheap furniture and moving it back to their new apartment. On Tuesday they found two night tables and Nick bought two bean bags for additional sitting comfort, and Wednesday was spent finding and getting the couch up on the third floor. After that took half the day alone, Nick slumped down on it and refused to move again.

“Give it a rest, Carrots, we’re not finishing this today. Fetching our stuff would be quick, but we still need extra keys, fill the kitchen and fridge, buy toiletries and get the paperwork done. Change of address order and such.”

“Ugh, fine,” she slumped down on the slightly oversized leather couch as well. “I guess I’ll start with the paperwork today. That shouldn’t take long.”

“Thanks, I’ll make some shopping runs the next evenings. We’ll have everything by Sunday, you impatient bunny.”

She gave a slight huff and continued to tap into her phone. “Sunday it is.”

They used lunch breaks to coordinate what was still missing and then, after an early shift on Sunday, went back to their old apartments for the last time. Nick only needed his one suitcase to bring the last of his clothes over and that was it. To his surprise, he found Finnick’s van standing in front of the new apartment. The fennec was leaning out the window, letting everyone enjoy his hip-hop music. He turned it down when he saw Nick coming.

“Finn, nice to see you, buddy!”

“There you are!” He jumped out the van. “Been meaning to bring you some house-warming present.”

“Aw, man, you shouldn’t have!” Nick was genuinely elated by the gesture. “C’mon in then, I just stocked the fridge.”

“Oh, all right, one quick brew, but help me carry this first.” He threw open the back doors of his van, revealing three boxes, each larger than him.

“Cheese and crackers, Finn, what is this?”

The small fox grinned. “You’ll see in a minute.”

It took longer than a minute to carry it all upstairs, but it was more than worth it in Nick’s eyes. “Your old amp and speakers? Are you kidding me, Finn?”

“Yeah, I got some new ones recently, and I know how you always pestered me to play some of your music in the van, so I figure you should have this now,” he shrugged and settled into one of the bean bags with his beer.

“Finn, I owe you one for this, I really do.”

“Bah, it’s nothing. Wouldn’t get much for it anyway. And you’ll still need something to hook it up to.”

“Not a problem, buddy. And we’ll sit down at Steve’s sometime next week, all right?”

“Sure. So…” he looked around. “Where’s your other half, anyway?”

“Don’t let her hear that,” Nick chuckled, shaking his head. “She’s fetching her last things as well.”

“Why not? It’s getting rare to see one of you without the other, y’know? Not that I mind.” He took another pull of his beer, his eyes roaming around the new room.

“Thanks, I think.” They stayed silent for a moment. “I have another small thing on my mind, Finn.”

The fennec exhaled slightly. “What can I do?”

Nick pulled out a piece of paper and wrote the designation of the smart-home security system on it that was used in the Highreach Apartment Complex. “If you get the chance, listen around to see if this security system has any known flaws. It’s not a high priority, ‘cause we’ve already closed the case, but it keeps nagging me.”

“You got it. Maybe I can find somebody who knows this shit ‘cause I sure don’t. All this high-tech crap, good for nothing, am I right?”

“Cheers to that!” Nick said and they clinked their beers.

The door opened again and Judy came in, a suitcase in each paw. “So it is your van in the stopping restriction downstairs. Hi Finnick!”

“Oh, hey Judy. You didn’t give me a ticket, did ya?” the little fox jumped up and fumbled for his keys.

“Nope,” she hopped up on the backrest of the couch, which was wide enough to support her. “But there are some other meter maids on duty who might.”

“Shit. Thanks for the heads up. I’ll see you two around!”

“Thanks for the gift, Finn! I’ll be in touch!” Nick called after him.

“What did he… oh!” she spotted the amp and speakers that Nick had already positioned around the room.

“They’re not working yet, I’ll have to make another shopping trip tomorrow, but oh, this will be worth it.”

“If we can agree on the music,” she nudged him.

“You are easily placated, Fluff,” he teased her. “I’ll endure some Gazelle now and then.”

“Oh, we’ll see who endures what, Wilde.”

He got up to put the empty bottles away. “Get you anything?”

“Some cold carrot juice, please.” A knock at the door. “I’ll get it!” she called.

Nick heard her open the door and then a lot of high-pitched yelling. He came back into the living room with a soda and her juice to find her in a big group hug with three other rabbits. One of them spotted Nick and his eyes widened until he poked Judy.

“Oh, guys, meet Nick, my partner at work!” she extracted herself from the others. “Nick, these are Amanda, Binky and Stan Hopps.”

“Hi,” Nick said, feeling a bit unprepared on how to engage her siblings. “Nice to meet you.” He put down the bottles and went to shake hands.

“I didn’t know you guys were in town. Did I miss a call?” Judy asked.

“Don’t be silly, sis,” Amanda said, “we’re here for a little burrow-opening. Mom let us know when you would move in.”

“Awww, you shouldn’t have!” She noticed Nick’s slightly confused look. “It’s an old bunny tradition, like a housewarming party. Normally it’s for a new house, or burrow, not just a rented apartment,” she turned back, “but this is so nice of you!”

“Normally it’s done by your litter-mates,” Amanda added, “but since Jude here is a rare litter of one, we’re happy to pick up the slack.”

Stan had pulled in some plants as Binky explained: “We didn’t know how many plants you could house in your small city apartments, but these should brighten up the room a bit.”

“Oh they’re great! You remembered how I love my Epidendrum schomburgkii! And a Ficus carica as well!”

“Make yourselves at home,” Nick chuckled, seeing as how Judy was temporarily overwhelmed. “What refreshments can I get you guys?”

Judy then gave them a quick tour of the apartment while Nick got some more bottles and straws out into the living room.

“So, Jude,” Binky began in a sly voice, once they had settled on the couch, Nick and Stan in the bean bags. “Does Mom know that you’ve got a roomie now? ‘Cause her note said nothing about it.”

“Don’t give her a heart attack, Binks, you know how mom and dad are,” Judy said, and while Binky’s grin only grew bigger, she made a motion as if to zip her mouth shut.

Stan turned to Nick: “You’ve been working with my sister for long now, Nick?”

“Just since I graduated two months ago,” Nick said.

“Well,” Judy added, “except for the times you helped me out while still at the academy, right? And the drug case in the week before you actually started working.”

“Oh, don’t remind me of that one, Carrots, I still think I’m finding shards of glass in my fur sometimes.”

Her siblings were following the exchange with great curiosity.

“Good to hear somebody’s got her back,” Stan said with a satisfied nod.

“It’s often the other way around,” Nick admitted with a wink, and Stan laughed and nodded knowingly.

Judy then turned the conversation to home and how they were doing in turn. How the year was shaping up, who had moved out and gotten married, and so on. Nick followed along with vague curiosity, since he never could imagine having so much family. But Judy, as it now dawned on him, was a bit more like him than her siblings were, since she had no litter-mates, and these seemed to be especially close in these big families. Stan was from the litter before her and Amanda and Binky from the litter after her, though, so they were as close as they could come to being real litter-mates.

“I’ve been thinking about moving to the city as well,” Amanda suddenly revealed. “And we have also had two more kits who want to follow your path to the police academy. Dad is not thrilled, as you can imagine, but is kind of resigned to it by now. That’s David and Charlie, by the way.”

“Oh, wow, and Lissy makes three,” Judy wondered. “I hope they know what they’re getting into.”

“They’re still a year away from that decision, Jude,” Stan said. “Just talk to them in the meantime.”

Judy nodded, lost in thought.

It got late, and the three bunnies had to catch the last train back. Judy offered to take them back to the station but Binky declined. “Enjoy your new little burrow, sis. And come visit soon, all right?”

And with that they were alone again.

“I am starved,” Judy announced. “Good thing we stocked the fridge already.”

“It was nice to meet some of your family,” he remarked.

“In small doses, no less,” she grinned. “Be warned, I don’t know if Mom and Dad might surprise us one day as well.”

“He’s not going to bring the fox taser, is he?”

“Not if I don’t tell him who my new roomie is,” she grinned.

“This is so going to backfire, Carrots.” But he couldn’t help but grin himself.

“Just messing with you, Slick,” she gave him a light punch on her way to the kitchen. “I made him toss that taser months ago.”

 

###  


“So,” Binky began, when they were all sitting at the station, waiting for the train to arrive, “our sister is rooming with a fox. Can’t say I saw that one coming.”

“Even from Judy,” Stan nodded.

“But they seem to treat each other well, I suppose,” Binky said.

“We knew that he joined the police after she asked him,” Stan recalled. “But back then I didn’t think that they would actually work together. Much less live together. I mean he’s still a fox, right?”

“Guys, weren’t you paying attention? Didn’t you see it?” Amanda fell in.

“What?” Binky asked, turning to her other litter-mate.

“The way he looked at her when he thought nobody was watching? Or the way she hung at his every word. There’s definitely more going on.”

Binky’s mouth hung open.

“You sure about that, Amanda?” Stan asked. “I mean, he’s a fox; I can’t even read them.”

“I’m sure of it.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t pay attention to that,” Binky said, recovering from the shock. “You think it isn’t one-sided?”

“Pretty sure, yes.”

“Why?”

“Didn’t you take Psych 101?” she sighed. “People who are close start to copy each other’s body language. They did that all the time.”

The others just sat stunned.

“You’re blind! And she always keeps an ear turned in his direction, no matter who’s talking.”

“Maybe because it’s instinct and he’s a fox?” Stan asked. “Not that I have anything against him, personally, but some things are still hardwired into us, right?”

“No,” Binky said. “She’s right. Now that I think about it, her heartrate would give it away. And when he was sitting next to her, she was as calm as Judy can get.”

“So I didn’t imagine it,” Stan slowly said.

“But Judy said they’re just-”

“Exactly. And Judy doesn’t lie to us,” Stan interrupted Binky.

“So you guys think she doesn’t know what’s going on? I mean this is Jude the Dude we’re talking about.” Binky said. “Should we… tell her?”

“No,” Amanda resolutely said. “One does not meddle in the affairs of Judy. We’ve all learned that lesson.”

“True enough,” Stan sighed.

“Our muzzles are zipped,” Binky agreed.

  
###  


“Nick, hey!”

“Bwuh, wha’?” he shook himself.

“Are you dosing off on me already? I can’t eat all of this alone, y’know.” She nudged the picnic basket they had hauled up all this way.

“Sorry. Was just resting my eyes, Carrots.” He changed from prone to sitting again.

“We didn’t even have night shift these days. What gives?” she asked.

“I…” he sighed. “I may have been lying awake a bit, going over the Highreach robberies again.”

“Oh! Why didn’t you tell me?” Now she sounded a bit hurt.

“Nothing to tell, really. I should put it out of my mind, too, it’s just…”

She nodded. “You still want to help Thaler, don’t you?”

“He’s from the Fringe. Lived there all his life, did so many good things for the people there. Even if he’s living in better quarters now.” His claws dug into the picnic blanket beneath them.

“We can go over it again. Maybe we’ll think of something new.”

Nick smiled, looking over the beautiful vista they had from Peak Street Park over the whole city. Only the downtown skyscrapers were blocking part of the view. “All right, Fluff. And thanks.”

He took a moment to collect his thoughts. “Last week I asked Finnick if he could find out if there were some security flaws in the room system that they all shared. He got back to me yesterday saying there is. Black market even has a phone app for five grand that’ll do the work for you.”

“So that’s how they likely got in,” she said, “since all the rooms share this system.”

“Exactly. But it doesn’t really help us, since we still don’t know how they got into the building to begin with and up to their door,” he said, growing angry at the dead end again.

“Hey, calm down,” she squeezed his paw. “That’s not helping you think either.”

“Sorry.”

“What if…,” she slowly began, “they got through the windows somehow. If all they needed was having a phone with them.”

“We never figured out how they might have gotten there,” he said.

Her nose was starting to twitch more rapidly, as it did when she was thinking hard. “There was nothing that window cleaners would use to get around and both the roofs and building fronts are both under video surveillance. Anyone scaling the building from the bottom or rappelling from the top would have been caught on tape.”

“And I don’t think they would use a helicopter for this,” Nick added.

“That would be a bit conspicuous, yes…” she trailed off again.

“Welp, I’m out of ideas then,” he grabbed the basket to find a bug sandwich and some blueberry juice. As he motioned to his partner to get something as well, she was still staring straight ahead.

“Nick, I’m getting the weirdest idea here. Are you willing to try something crazy?” she asked, still looking ahead over the city.

He chuckled. “Any day, partner. Gonna tell me what it is?”

“We’ll just… wait here. Settle in until midnight. I’ll explain later.”

“We have an early shift tomorrow,” he reminded her. “But alright. I’ll play along if you have a hunch. For now let’s dig in though.”

 

As afternoon turned into evening, the two of them busied themselves by playing cards, watching other mammals come and go, and joking about old cases that Nick had missed out on during the academy. Eventually, the sun set over the western skyline, which included many high trees from the Rainforest District. Most of the other picnickers were gone by then and the cool nighttime air settled over the highest park of the city.

“This is getting more chilly than I thought,” Judy said, wrapped in half of the picnic blanket.

“Not a stakeout in the comfortable cruiser, is it?” Nick teased and leaned back.

She could always see the effect that the fresh night time air had on him, his old nocturnal predator instincts revitalizing him, no matter how long he had been awake at this point. “I still prefer it,” she said. “The cruiser can get so stuffy at times. I just should have thought ahead. We could have gone back to the apartment for a spell to better gear up.”

“Too late now, Carrots. Only two hours till midnight.”

“Yes.” She shook off the blanket. “We should move, by the way. Find a place where we can see without being seen.”

“Ready to let me know the details now?” he gathered up the basked and stuffed the blanket it.

“Check the wind, Nick, it is coming up from the city at night. I wasn’t sure how it would work with all that climate engineering around us.” She motioned him to follow her towards the south end of the park, where it sloped slowly downwards.

“I don’t see what- wait. Warm updrafts. You think somebody could be gliding on those winds, don’t you?”

“Yep.” They emerged from the last trees to see the southern part of the city in front of them.

There was the wall between Downtown and Sahara Square, and in the distance, Nick could recognize the Highreach Apartment Complex. “That’s quite some way off. But it might work. If they actually started from here.”

“Only one way to find out. Where do you think we should hide, Mr. Fox?”

Nick looked around. There was a small hollow next to an old, thick tree. It gave them a way to peak out towards the south and was hidden from the moonlight and street lanterns. “There’s a good spot.”

Judy peered in the given direction. “I can’t see a thing, Nick. Just a black hole. Please don’t mess with me now.”

Nick chuckled at that and put down the blanket first, then stepped into the hollow, lifted her up and sat her down next to him. Last came the basket, which he tried to hide under the blanket.

“Comfy?” he asked her.

“Warmer,” she replied, snuggling into his side.

Nick huffed and adjusted to curl up halfway around her, to shield her a bit better. “There. Now you’re alone in a dark forest with a fox. What would your poor parents say, Carrots?”

She let out a small groan and reached up to flick his muzzle. “Probably something alone the lines of: ‘are you sure it’s safe what you’re doing, Judy?’ It’s been pretty predictable. Why, what would your-” She almost said parents as well, though she remembered him mentioning casually that his dad had walked out long ago. “-your mom say?”

“Oh, just something along the lines off: ‘when am I getting to see grandkits, Nick?’ It’s been pretty predictable.” They both chuckled.

“We better hope this park warden doesn’t see us either,” he said.

Judy looked up to see a rhino walk along the edges of the park. “So he doesn’t give us away?”

“No, he’ll see a poor little bunny and a fox and probably call the police,” he chuckled.

“Nick-” she began but he interrupted her. “None of that, Carrots. I can live with those prejudices. In fact, maybe we should let him see us. That way we can wait until he _does_ call the ZPD before you pull out your badge and ask him how you can help.”

“Oh you’re just pure evil, Slick,” she chuckled.

“What can I say? Everything has an upside, and the upside to all that old prejudice is that I get to really screw with some mammals’ heads,” he smirked. “Just like I did with yours, back when we first met. Remember?”

“How could I ever forget,” she said and he felt her silent chuckle. “But we’re not risking the stakeout for another hustle tonight.”

“Fine, fine. Maybe another night.”

 

Midnight came and went. Judy was getting a bit fidgety despite the comfortable embrace she found herself in. But the strong fox scent (despite the Musk-Off that her partner used) kept a part of her brain on edge over which she had no control. It made it easy to stay alert, but her muscles couldn’t fully relax either.

It didn’t help that she could barely see. The half moon was faint behind some clouds now, and the most she could see was where the park met the adjacent street. So all she could do was listen intently, without moving her ears so much. Nick had told her early, to stop that, since such movement was easily picked up by predatory eyes. Not that they knew if they were after predatory mammals at all or something like rodents in flying harnesses.

Just when she wanted to whisper to Nick that they’d need to set a time to give up, she heard something new. Small feet, at least two pairs, maybe more, walking through the grass. She poked Nick in the side as was their agreed sign, and he slowly lifted his head to peer over the roots. She felt his muscles tensing as he saw something.

“Three, rodent-sized, with gear. Probable cause?” he breathed in her right ear.

She nodded and got up. “Let’s go.”

With a whirr of fur and air he was gone, and Judy hastened to jump over the roots after him. She saw the fox dashing ahead on all fours, keeping close to the ground. She sprinted after him, giving him enough time to nearly reach the three shapes that were walking south before yelling: “ZPD! Freeze!”

They burst into motion at that, running down the slope. If they got too far, they could simply lift off and be out of reach within seconds. But Nick was fast enough, pouncing ahead and grabbing the first of the three figures.

The other two ran in different directions, and Judy went after the one on the right. The figure jumped and caught air when she was still meters away but her powerful legs crossed the gap in a few large hops. The squirrel, as she could now make it out, gained a few meters of height first but wasn’t moving ahead yet. She waited for him to swoop forward, jumped as he started doing so, and reached for one of his legs, barely grabbing a hold of it.

She had expected to pull him down instantly, the squirrel being less than half her size, but the strong winds at that point carried them another meter forward before they plummeted down in a spiral and she was suddenly aware of the edge of the park and the sudden cliff behind it, where the updrafts came from. She heard Nick yell behind her but couldn’t do anything but hold on to the squirrel now, as the spiral they made brought them over the edge, then back again, before they finally crashed back onto the grass. The perp briefly struggled in her paws but she wasn’t about to let him go now. He was a regular squirrel in a wing-suit and with some other gear strapped to his arms and legs.

“Close call, Hopps,” she heard Nick say behind her.

“One still got away. We better call for backup to haul these two back.”

He huffed. “You do that. I’ll keep these two pinned and read their rights.”

In the end they did turn out to be simple opportunistic thieves. After a day of interrogation one of the two captured squirrels broke and revealed their leader, the flying squirrel that got away, and where they stashed the goods.

“They haven’t even sold anything yet,” Nick remarked as they hauled it all back for evidence.

“I think I believe what he said,” she said. “It was mostly for kicks, not for money, at least for them. We’ll know more once we bring in the leader.”

“He won’t show his face here again,” Nick said, now fully content to close the case. “We can return the goods to Thaler and let the techies pick apart the app on the phones. They’ll show Highreach how to close their security flaws so this won’t happen again. All in all, a highly successful stakeout.”

“Don’t forget the paperwork, Wilde. It’s a mountain, since we were off-shift and everything.”

Nick flinched at the thought before turning and giving her a smile. “Worth it.”

  
###  


Later on the same day, Judy flopped down on the couch with a sigh and switched on the TV. She waited for Nick to join her, but he sat down on the desk in the other corner of the living room and opened his laptop.

“Did we forget something?” she asked. Surely there was no work that couldn’t wait until tomorrow.

“I still need to update my personal forms from work.”

“Oh, right.”

He worked in silence for a few minutes while she let her brain soak in the latest ‘Paw and Order’ rerun.

“I’ll put you in as emergency contact now, while I’m at it,” Nick said.

Judy ears went up, her tired mind struggling to catch the unexpected curve ball. “Oh! Wait, really?”

“I know, if anything happens to me, you’ll probably the first to know anyway, but you have heard about Wolford this week, right?”

Judy’s ears dropped. “Yeah, they say the knife wound was a nasty one.”

“Yes, poor sod. But what I meant was that they didn’t let Fangmeyer see him right away, because she wasn’t family. And I figure this should you get around it,” he explained.

“Oh, that’s… morbidly thoughtful.” It was somewhat depressing to think about, but there was no denying that injuries happened in their line of work. “I guess I should return the favor and put you down as well, hm?”

“Your choice,” Nick said while moving over and letting himself fall onto the other end of the couch. “Otherwise I might have to find out how long it’ll take the hospital to realize that I’m not actually your husband.”

“Wait, so you can’t just charm your way in for once? Or know a guy who owes you a favor?” she teased and got a pillow thrown at her, which she caught, centimeters away from her face. But before she could look over it, the pillow got pressed forward by an invisible hand, pinning her to the couch.

“I did that once. Later had to jump out a window. Not something I intend to repeat. And unlike a certain bunny,” Nick smirked, “I know my limitations. Just don’t tell anyone I have them, okay?”

She tried kicking out under the pillow but his reach was too far and the pillow too large. Curse this lithe and quick fox, but he had her pinned good. She couldn’t help but let out an angry growl.

“Adorable. Yield?”

“Never.” She figured he couldn’t keep it up forever; holding his arm out while staying out of range of her feet would tire him quickly. But then another idea dawned on her. “You know, this is actually a pretty good idea.”

“What is?”

“I’ve had nightmares about my parents all rushing in from the Burrows just because I got knocked out for a bit. If I shift my emergency contact to you, however… please don’t let them know unless I am actually dying or something, okay?”

“Now who’s being morbid?” he grumbled and let her sit up.

She poked him in the side. “Oh, we’ll be careful. You watch my back, I watch yours, right?”

He grumbled and shrugged, but left it at that, so they went back to watching ‘Paw and Order’.


	6. Chapter 6

A gust of wind nearly blew Nick from the stairs leading to the pub. He gripped the railing and barreled through the door. Finnick really picked the best of nights, he thought, looking through the dimly lit room. He spotted the fennec in a corner, but to his surprise, an oryx was sitting across from him, and from their posture, he could see that they weren’t at their first drinks.

“Evening, gentlemammals,” Nick said as he pulled up a chair of the right size and sat down. The oryx looked a bit startled at first, but then gave him a calm nod.

“Nick, this is Fernando Hermanes; Fernando, Nicholas Wilde,” Finnick said, waving disinterestedly with one hand while swirling his drink with the other.

“I have heard of you, of course,” the oryx said, offering a hoof.

“Only good things, I hope,” Nick said and shook it.

He waved his hoof back and forth and dryly said: “So and so, to be honest.”

Nick made a mental note to later ask Finnick if there were any new rumors about him floating around of which he should be aware. “I’m sure both sides were overblown.”

“I guess I’ll find out then,” Fernando said.

“So, what’s new, Nick? You drive your roomie up the wall yet?” Finnick asked.

“Hah. It only takes half an album from The Warmbloods to do that. But otherwise it’s been relaxed.”

“Ah, good ol’ Warmbloods,” Finnick grinned. “Shame they don’t play anymore. You got the hifi all set up then?”

“First thing I did, Finn. Sounds just as good as in your van.”

“Hard to believe, but whatever. I’ll take my van over some apartment any day. That way I don’t need to put up with roommates!”

“Cheers to that,” Fernando said and they clinked their glasses together, Nick with an ironic smirk, since the joke was on him.

“How are things on your end, Fern?” Finnick asked.

The oryx tilted his head to scratch at one of his horns. “We keep our heads down. Fights in the Haymarket are continuing, especially at night. Better stay inside, or you might get shivved with a broken bottle, as my neighbor said yesterday.”

“Shit, you might be better off finding a new hideout,” Finnick suggested.

“We’re thinking about it,” Fernando nodded. “But it isn’t easy to convince everyone.”

Nick quickly steeled his mask to hide his surprise. It’d been weeks now and he had considered the Haymarket case dead in the sense that they’d never solve it. Which may have the upside that it would keep him away from anything related to Sanchez, even if he would never tell that to his partner. But hearing about it here and now, listening to what might become a real lead, Nick’s thoughts were racing. He couldn't decide on the spot if the case was better off left alone now or not, so he would try to get any lead he could get right now and decide later whether to use it or ignore it.

“Bah, you can only offer it, can’t help it if they’re not interested.” Finnick made a throw-away-gesture, while Nick puzzled over who _they_ were. His family?

“That’s not my way, Finn,” Fernando chided the small fox. “I thought you’d know that by now.”

“Still hoping for you to wise up, smartass,” Finnick countered. Nick couldn’t remember when he’d seen the fennec so openly invested in somebody else's well-being. He was surprised he hadn’t heard of this Fernando before today, which led him to realize just how little time he’d been able to spend with his old friend since he’d joined the academy. And that was a bit of a sting.

“Things will blow over,” the oryx said. “There’s even rumors that some officers have been spotted in the quarter from time to time. Must be the first time in years that I’ve heard that.” He cast a meaningful glance at Nick.

“It’s true,” he admitted. “We’ve been there from time to time. Haven’t really made much headway though,” he added apologetically.

“Ah, yes, not easy to gain trust, I imagine,” Fernando said, before glancing at Finnick. “You vouching for him, Finn?”

Finnick snorted derisively, but then nodded.

Fernando glanced around before leaning closer to Nick. “If it would be useful to have some meeting place of some of the more notorious troublemakers of late, I might be able to help.”

“As an anonymous hint, I would guess,” Nick said, also leaning slightly closer, but not enough to make it obvious that they were trying to be secretive.

“Naturally.”

Nick dug up a pen and some paper and slid it over the table. “Just write it down. If it’s in any way useful, we’ll check it out.” He got it back and slid the paper back into his pocket without looking at it. “Thanks. I guess you wouldn’t want my card, but Finnick knows how to get a hold of me if you find out more.”

Fernando nodded and took a sip from his drink. “Excuse me for a second.” He wobbly stood up and made his way towards the toilets.

Finnick snorted and cast an amused gaze towards Nick that said: somebody can’t hold his drink.

Nick shrugged and leaned back to look around the pub, when a newcomer walking towards the bar caught his eye. It was Jan Dremings.

“Oy,” Finnick piped up, his head tracking the ocelot as well. “Isn’t that-”

“Yeah, pipe down, I’ve seen him,” Nick hushed.

The fennec scoffed at Nick over the mug that was nearly the size of his head. “What’s the matter, Red? You too good for the likes of him now?”

Nick just shook his head. “I haven’t talked to him in forever. No use in starting now.”

Finnick seemed to have other ideas. “Is it because he’s working for Sanchez now? We can rough him a bit, if you want.”

“No, Fin, I’m not going to ‘rough’ anyone. I don’t want anything to do with him.” Nor did he have the time or energy to think about it right now.

Dremings looked around the room for a second and their eyes met. According to the slight sneer that appeared on his face, he was not one of the mammals that were understanding of Nick’s new occupation.

Nick just looked away again, his hand playing with the highly unexpected lead that was now burning a hole in his pocket. Persuing the case now had several problems attached to it and his partner would not be overly understanding of them.

If the case was in fact related to Sanchez then it was better off in the hands of somebody else. But Judy was not about to drop a case like this after she had gotten it, even less now that she had a more personal stake in it with her two hare friends.

And Bogo would want a good reason as well, one that Nick could not provide because nobody must know that there was still an ongoing deal between Nick and Sanchez.

  
###  
  


It was a rare overcast day and threatened to turn into something darker. Judy knew there was an analogy for her mood today but she chose to ignore it. The day certainly wouldn’t get better with that attitude, but she knew she needed a distraction right about now. Looking up at her partner sitting beside her, she found none. He was eating his own sandwich and looked lost in his own thoughts for once. Maybe the lack of progress was eating at him as well, even though he didn’t let it be known.

She shifted her attention forward again, over the rooftops of the Haymarket. Nick had convinced her to climb to this little out of the way spot for their lunch break, just to get out of the dark, narrow alleys they’d been patrolling all morning. It was nice up here, but she couldn’t really appreciate it. The few people who did talk to them confirmed that gang violence was still happening more than ever, just never when they were around. And there’d been another shop torched. No fire alert was made, and only the blackened facade was left to tell the tale the next day. It was like they really didn’t need them, and yet she knew that Rieda and Alec and the commune did.

“This is so frustrating,” she growled unconsciously.

“What is?” Nick asked.

She gave him an exasperated look, daring him to take a guess. Instead his distant look became …softer? A bit guilty? He’d been stand-offish all morning. At first she thought he just got out of bed on the wrong foot, but as his mood didn’t improve by the time they arrived at work, she realized it had to be something else. And he usually only got that way when there was something on his mind he didn’t want to tell her. He might still be a good hustler, but with how much of their lives they were already sharing, the occasions when this happened were incresingly clear to her.

She was smarter than to pester him until he relented, but it wore on her. Why’d he have to have secrets? She was getting along just fine without having any from him! He already knew things about her that she hadn’t even told her parents about.

It must have been something from when he went drinking with Finnick yesterday. But what could it be that he didn’t want her to know? She went back to her own lunch before her mood could sour even more.

She wasn’t even done with it when running steps drew her attention to the ground beneath them. A lapin came around the corner, desperately panting and running away from something… “Alec!” She jumped up, frantically looking for the closest rain pipe to climb down the four stories that separated her from the alley floor.

The hare looked around at his name but didn’t stop before thinking to look straight up, and then she saw who was behind him: three large tigers, all sharply dressed, all barreling down the alley after the hare.

She found the next rain pipe and threw herself at it, sliding down and jumping the last story. They were all past her by the time she hit the ground and got up. “ZPD! Freeze!” she yelled after them, unlocking her stunner and dashing after them, but they gave no indication of having heard her and rounded the next corner.

Judy raised her gun before following them and shot as soon as they came in sight again, hitting the last tiger in the back. She went down with a pained scream, her momentum carrying her far enough, however, that the wires snapped and the stunner was nearly pulled out of her hands.

But what happened then really took Judy by surprise. Instead of continuing the chase, the other two thugs stopped and turned around. One pulled out a small dart gun and shot at her, the dart zipping close by her ear before she could even think to dive into cover.

She rolled back around the corner. Peeking out, she saw how the other tiger was hoisting his stunned friend over his shoulder and made off with her, while the other kept his weapon raised and pointed at Judy. She needed to get close, and fast. Where was Nick? She looked around and spotted him at the opposite corner of the intersection.

He caught her eye and raised three fingers, took one down, two down. They jumped out. She started sidestepping left and right on instinct, trying to avoid the first dart, but then she realized that the tiger had used the few seconds to run after his colleague and was already at the next intersection.

They ran after them, but when they got there, the tigers were gone, probably ducking into one of the many entrances. Judy swiveled her ears around, and the first thing she heard was a rapid panting to her right, behind a dumpster. She knew it was Alec before she reached him.

“Alec, are you alright?” she asked, kneeling down beside him.

The brown hare nodded, visible tired and shaken. “I’m fine, thanks. Just… stepped into something earlier, took a fall. But I’ll be fine. Just… let me get back home now.” He tried standing up, but winced.

“Oh no, Alec, this doesn’t look good. We need to have this looked at,” she insisted.

He kept protesting but Judy would have none of it. With both of them supporting the hare, Nick and her brought him to the next street, where an ambulance could take him in.

While they were waiting for it, Judy noticed that Nick seemed to be even more restless. He keept looking around and standing a bit away from them, as if he expected an attack at any second.

“Is something the matter?” she asked quietly after walking over to him.

The sudden glare he shot her almost made her take a step back. “Tigers,” he said and went back to looking around.

“What about them?” she pressed. “They turned tail pretty quickly. Do you think they’ll be back?”

His head wipped around again, looking at her as if he hadn’t even considered that possibility. Then he shrugged and shook his head at the same time. “They’re as good as proof that Sanchez is involved.”

Judy sighed. “Nick, would you please bring me up to speed? Apparently I’m missing something here, because while that is good to know, it doesn’t exactly explain your current behavior.”

He brought up a paw to drag over his eyes, looking tired. “Later. We’ll talk later. For now be on guard and don’t do anything rash.”

She surpressed a wave of anger flaring up inside her as she put the pieces together. Whatever he had been pondering all morning, it must be connected to their investigation. “You bet we will talk,” she said and went back to Alec.

Whatever it was, she would drag it out of him by any means necessary, now that it had become apparent what danger the members of the commune were in. This investigation had to be finished as soon as possible.

And maybe Alec could help her as well.

Moments later the ambulance arrived. Judy accompanied the hare to the hospital, while Nick went ahead to get started on the paperwork.

  
###  
  


Judy threw open the apartment door with enough force that it clattered against the coat rack. In the last few hours, she had been forced to lie to three different people and also on her daily report. She was angry at the world and a few mammals in particular, one of which was in the same room as her now.

This particular mammal who, for once, did not peek over the couch to greet her, even though she could hear him there. But best to let him stew in it, she thought, put her coat away and, without a word, stomped past the couch to the kitchen. Grabbed some water. And a carrot, because cripes, she was hungry after that interrupted lunch and all the hours in the hospital. But then she’d tell Nick what she thought of his secrecy and thinking she was rash and… the couch was empty. “Nick!”

She still heard him. Was he really ducking on the other side of the couch to avoid her? “Nick, I am not in the mood for games now.” She hopped up on the backrest, walked to the other side where he must be cowering… nothing?

Something grabbed her left leg, and before she could even think about kicking out, she plopped down on the cushions face first, someone landing right next to her. She tried turning around, but paws – familiar paws – held her down. “Nick, what are yo-uuuuuh…” She trailed off as the paws began massaging her shoulder muscles and the desire to turn around was delayed… yes, delayed. She’d get right on his case again, once the worst knots had been loosened. Yes, right then.

“You looked a little tense, Fluff,” came his calm voice.

“You’re not getting out of it that easy, Nick.” She was still angry, but not as angry as she’d liked. Damn those large, strong paws.

“Not looking to. But I figured if you needed to talk, we might as well do it relaxed. And you really drew the short stick today, didn’t you?”

“I had to lie to Bogo, Nick. Look him in the face and lie!” she said. “I thought I was going to die!”

“You look plenty alive to me.”

“Not what I feel like.” She sighed. For a moment she thought what it would have been like coming home after such a day to her old, lonely apartment at the Grand Pangolin Arms. No, after the last two weeks there was no question that it had been a good decision to move into this place with Nick. She felt almost pampered when he helped her relief the stress after a long day like this. A small part of her still wanted to rise up, shrug it off, and declare she didn’t need any spoiling, but comfort won over pride every time.

“All right,” she finally said and stood up. “Your turn.” She pointed at the couch. Time to get back in control.

Nick raised an eyebrow at her, but then slowly turned around and lied down. She hopped onto his back and started kneading it with all four paws, using her weight to her advantage. He let out a low moan.

“All right now, Slick, what do you know that I don’t?” she asked.

“Now this is an interrogation technique I can get behind,” he quipped. “A little to the left please.”

Judy stopped the kneading to show him who was in control again. “Withholding the carrot is more efficient than the stick anyway.”

“You’re pure evil, Carrots. But what do you want to hear? You must have guessed by now that the problem has to do with Sanchez.”

She slowly resumed the massage. “Yes. And that is exactly why you can’t keep silent any longer.” Nick was a deep well of secrets, that was another thing that she’d recognized in the last two weeks. Usually she could ignore it, just as she had when living with two hundred of her siblings around, other times it induced sudden pangs of sadness, as if she wasn’t good enough to be trusted by him yet, and sometimes, like today, it drove her up the walls. Especially when it had to do with a case.

And this was the Haymarket case, the one that even she had begun to think they might never solve. Yes, she still kept pestering Bogo for patrols in the Haymarket whenever the rest of the city was calm and uneventful enough to get away with it, but she knew that without a lucky break, things just weren’t moving along. They could try to be a deterrent against violence, but since no other officers were getting involved in such a cold case, two mammals just weren’t enough for such a large quarter. She tried, tried everything she could think of, but they were still as far as when they had first met up with Alec and Rieda.

Until today that is, but Nick didn’t know that yet.

She realized that he wasn’t answering her so she stopped moving again. Even the knots in his muscles were resisting her today. Or he was still too tense underneath, unable to relax. But why? She tried something different and lied down flat on his back. “What’s going on, partner?” In response, he seemed to tense up even more under her. “Hey...”

He stood up suddenly, rolled her off him and stalked over to the window.

Judy watched him, confused and a bit hurt, but in the way he was slightly shaking she could see the battle that was raging inside of him.

She gave him a minute before she walked over and reached out to him. “C’mon, Nick, please stop stalling.”

“I’m not stalling, damnit, I’m looking for a solution!”

“Well, stop looking alone then! This is our case, you don’t get to decide alone if there’s a solution or not!”

“Read my lips, rabbit, I can’t! I’m not allowed to talk!”

“Oh, now that’s rich! When has Nicholas Wilde ever cared if he was allowed to do something? Only when it suits him it seems!” she seethed.

“When it keeps me alive!” he hissed.

That made her swallow her retort. “What?”

“Or when it keeps you alive,” he said, quieter. “I’m willing to follow a lot of rules in that case.” But he didn’t meet her eyes.

There was more to it than that and she knew it. “Nick, what did you do?” she pleaded.

“I- nothing! I swear, this isn’t… look, this all happened long before you showed your cute litte tail around the city.” When she didn’t deign that with a response he continued: “It’s… probably best of you get another partner for this investigation. I don’t know what I’ll tell Bogo, but I know you won’t drop the case.”

What? “No!” She was not just going to give it up like that.

“What are-”

“No, this is not how we’re going to do this. You can’t just let your past interfere in our work like that. I don’t want another partner! I want my partner to spill the beans on why he can’t tell me what is going on!”

He let out a long breath, but the glare he gave her was warning her off. “I keep secrets, Hopps. I’ve worked for a lot of powerful mammals in this city. And they take this kind of thing very seriously.”

Why did that matter? Why did he bother with them? “Why?” was all she could ask.

“Because if you operate on the far side of the law you can’t just bring in the government to resolve disputes. Your word is everything and if you break a single contract nobody will do business with you anymore. Likewise, if I tell on one secret, everyone will assume they better get rid of me before I tell on them, too. Mr. Big will ice me before you can even call up Fru-Fru! That is why I cannot and will not, under any circumstantes tell you about what I know about Sanchez.”

Maybe a part of her had already known where it would lead, ever since she brought up Sanchez for the first time and these words were just the last nails on the coffin. Judy had to admit that there was really nothing in this situation that she could do. She tried coercing him, she tried appealing, she tried pleading.

With hanging shoulders she turned around and went to her own room, slamming the door after her.

  
###  
  


The following day at work was strained to say the least. Nick didn’t know if she was angry at him about how he had allowed his life to interfere with the work of the ZPD or if she was just angry at the situation in general, but it wasn’t pleasant. He half expected her to go to Bogo after all and switch partners for this investigation – or maybe forever, but she didn’t. She just threw herself into work as usual, but without the upbeat spirit that usually accompanied her. Nick tried not to look at her too much and stay as quiet as possible on his side of the cruiser.

He knew he couldn't just wait for this to blow over, however. This was his mess and he had to fix it. Somehow. He badly wished that he could even just say that he wanted to tell her, that it wasn’t her fault, but he did not dare. Not in the confines of their own home, nor in the police cruiser.

He knew he was extremely paranoid here, suspecting that even their appartment might be bugged, but this was not a risk he could take. It wasn’t just his own life that he would throw away if he was wrong. They would come after her too if they suspected she knew something.

But looking at the listless bunny in the driver’s seat, Nick was filled with a grim determination he hadn’t known yet. He had to fix this, and what kind of hustler would he be if he couldn't even mislead the whole zootopian underworld? Or whoever was currently watching. And it was better to always assume that someone was watching.

So he put together a plan in the dragging hours or work, intending to put it into motion this very evening, unwilling to let the cold mood drag on for one second more than necessary.

“Judy,” he said, once they stepped inside the apartment.

She was already on the way to her room, but stopped. “What?”

This was the tricky part because if the room was bugged this must not sound like he was planning anything, not after they had just talked about it. “How about we go somewhere nice this evening, forget about work for a bit.”

“I’m tired, Nick,” she sighed. “Maybe another time.”

He crouched down in front of her before she could turn around again. “Please. I want to make it up to you,” he said, keeping his tone light, while his eyes gave her a more serious, imploring look.

She frowned, but finally nodded. “Fine, as long as it won’t take too long.”

“It won’t,” he assured her, not really knowing if it was the truth.

“What do I need?”

“Light clothing, we’re going to the Rainforest District. And you can leave wallet and phone behind today.” He hoped she would because phones were notoriously easy to use as bugs and so getting wet was part of the plan.

She gave him a strange look but shrugged and went to her room to get changed.

Nick counted his blessings and did the same.

Half an hour later they were exiting the subway at Vine Street and Nick led the silent bunny at his side towards a little treetop trail at the western side. The trees here near the bay were not nearly as high as in the center and there was one trail that was just right for what he’d planned. These walkways were snaking over treetops and bridges, made from little more than wood, dirt and ropes.

The one he had picked was designed for smaller animals. Judy could get an admission but a fox of his size would not, so he led her past the normal start of the trail where a beaver stood guard and towards another entrance for maintenance personal.

“Nick, what are you doing?” she asked as she quickly caught on. “Why are we risking getting in trouble for this?”

“But it’s gonna be so worth it,” he grinned. Just not in the way she expected, if she had any expectations whatsoever at this point. He checked to see that the beaver was still turned away before he ushered her in and closed the door behind himself.

They went up a small, narrow staircase that was almost uncomfortable for Nick and emerged somewhere in the middle of the ten minute walkway.

He saw her face relax a bit when the red sunset over the bay hit her and let her drink it in for a bit, wishing he could relax as well. But he couldn't let his ultimate goal out of sight today. They walked the path up and down for a bit, mostly in silence. Nick could tell she wasn’t ready to forgive him for anything yet, but that was okay. Once the sun had fully vanished behind the western hills he could stall no longer.

“Gotta leave the way we came in,” he said once they had almost reached the exit again, near the lowest part of the trail. Here they were only a few meters above the water level.

Judy nodded and turned around when he motioned for her to go first. The trail was built for rabbits, squirrels and smaller animals and quite narrow.

The handrails were appropriately low.

Which made it very easy for Nick to feign a stumble, crash into Judy and take her with him over the edge. He managed to put a paw over her muzzle to muffle her surprised yell as they tumbled down into the cold waters.

The current was fast here but they managed to get to shore before they were driven out to sea. Cold and weary they dragged themselves onto the sandy river bank.

“You huge clutz,” Judy shivered through clenched teeth.

“S-s-sorry, Jude, but it was necessary.”

“W-what?”

He stood up and offered a paw to drag her up as well. “Walk with me,” he just said motioning towards the open bay with his head.

“Nick, what the crickets- why did you do that?”

“So you wanted to know about Sanchez,” he offered.

“That’s why I am currently drenched in cold water after sundown on a shore in the rainforest district?”

“In a word, yes. Being able to talk to you while being one-hundred percent sure we cannot be overheard by any means was not easy,” he explained. “But here the wind will carry our words far out into the bay, while we can see anyone coming,” he motioned around to the opening beach in front of them, “and as long as I keep my muzzle turned towards the bay I don’t have to worry too much about somebody reading from my lips.”

“This is insane. We couldn’t have just walked to this beach?”

“Our clothes might be bugged, too. There are rodent sized devices too small for us to detect. But a quick bath fixes that. The only problem, you see, was making it look unplanned.”

“Ugh, Nick, why?”

“Because I couldn’t let anyone think that I was up to something. Now, we have maybe half an hour before we start to look suspicious. Once we’re going back home, this topic does no longer exist, okay?”

She sighed. “Okay.”

“Good.” He plopped down into the sand and motioned for her to sit in front of him, between him and the bay. “Let me start by saying I’ve wanted to tell you. But because I had to fear that even our apartment might be bugged, I had to look like I didn’t. I hope I can make it up to you.”

Judy gave him a weary look. “Start talking, Nick. What is so dangerous that others would kill you for it? Even kill both of us, as you’ve hinted at.”

“Sanchez would go to great lengths to make sure this secret is safe because it has the power to turn his own men against him.”

“If you are so dangerous to him, why did he allow you to leave at all? You’re not working for him anymore, are you?”

Nick chuckled. “No, I definitely am not. The reason is the same that now prevents me from working too closely on the Haymarket case. There is sort of a deal between us. He doesn’t touch me, and I don’t interfere with his operations.

“Now, that wouldn’t stop him from sending hit-mammals after me, true, so I had to be smart about it, when I left his employ. I put what I knew in a bunch of envelopes and gave them to different mammals all over the city. Even Bogo has one now, to be opened in case of my untimely death.”

“This… wow.”

“And Sanchez knows this of course. So if any one of us makes a move against the other, it is mutually assured destruction. Not the best of solutions, but the only option I had back then.”

“But why did you ever work for him? He sounds a lot worse than Mr. Big.”

“Ah, yes. I’m sort of telling the story backwards here. I guess I still hoped to spare you that part of it.” He cast her a sad glance. “This part isn’t pretty, Fluff. Least of all for me.”

She reached out and gave his paw a short squeeze. “It won’t make me think any less of you.”

It was probably too late to turn back now anyway, one way or another. “Make no promises you can’t keep, Carrots. So here is how I came to be in his employ and gain a secret that that can still dethrone him.

“Finnick and I were on the run back then. Some rather persistent and mad mammals were on our tails for a con that had gone wrong. And they really were out for our blood so we needed to lay low for more than a few days. Nobody was going to take us in, however, for fear of crossing them.

“Fortunately for us, Sanchez Jr. had a need for some desperate mammals that were outside of his outfit. A job he couldn't trust his own people with, or rather, his father’s people, because he didn’t run the show back then. But he wanted to, and we were to speed up the succession and engineer a little accident for the old boss.”

“He wanted you to kill him?”

“Yes. Essentially it was an assassination, but I’ll spare you the details.”

“And you...”

“We did it. I’m not proud of it, but we pulled it off.”

The look she cast at him was distant, and held an edge of despair. The knowledge that you had blood on your hands rarely went over well with mammals like her. But he waited and eventually she asked: “Why?”

“A few reasons; the first was increasing the chances of my own survival, and Finnick’s too, as I said. Then there was the fact that Sanchez Sr. was a mean old bastard. He didn’t even shy away from fur trading. I hoped that Sanchez Jr. was somewhat more even-tempered, but it didn’t even matter at the time. I knew that if I helped him, he’d get some other people off our backs, and so I assisted him in staging a little accident. You can say that if I hadn’t helped him, he’d probably have done it himself or with somebody else, but that’s no excuse that I will take. I was thinking of myself and of Finnick back then.”

Judy nodded, still digesting his words. “You think it was the right decision then in hind-sight?”

“It was the only option for us. Hindsight doesn’t change that. It still took me years to get over the nightmares, but even today… well, let’s just say I am very, very grateful that we don’t get issued lethal weapons on patrol.”

The ghost of a smile appeared around her muzzle for a second. “Yeah, me too. But… did it work? Was the new one a better boss?”

He thought for a second. “I guess you would say so, yes. He’s a bit more like Mr. Big, playing by some rules and keeping his own family safe. And from what I heard he never took up the fur trading again that his father had started.”

She nodded, absently tracing circles in the sand, mulling it over. Nick’s stomach clenched, and he crossed his fingers to steady his hands. He had told her all he could. The truth and nothing but, no excuses. A year ago, the thought would have seemed as ridiculous to him as… well… making the cut to Precinct One. But it was all for naught, if she-

“Sorry,” she said, pulling him back from his own thoughts.

“What for, Carrots?”

“For a moment, I doubted you. And I shouldn’t have. I stand by what I said earlier. I know the Nick Wilde of today, and that’s all that matters.”

Nick held up a hand, couldn’t stop a smile in his relief. “No, Carrots, don’t apologize. It’s okay to doubt sometimes and demand explanations. We’re cops after all, remember?”

“But you’re my partner!”

“And even partners can make dumb decisions, Miss ‘Watch-me-stop-that-cheetah’.”

“You promised to stop bringing that up,” she said, ducking her head. After a moment of silence she asked: “Was it bad doing jobs for him? Do you regret that part?”

Nick let out a long breath. So much for having it behind him. But that’s what made her such a good officer. Nick talked to people, and she listened well – sometimes from half a block over, but nothing did get by her.

“No, I don’t. I was the smartest thing to do back then, at least until things quited down. Life on the streets is sometimes lacking in better choices, especially when you’re just starting out and have nothing to your name yet. Once I built myself a reputation, once people knew me, knew I was useful and thought twice about shoving me around because I might be working with Mr. Big again, things got a lot easier. But before that… well, you get the idea.”

“You don’t hate yourself for it, do you?”

The question caught him off guard. He shook his head. “No, it was just smuggling, for the most part. Learned a lot there that I later applied when starting the pawpsicle business.

“Eventually though, the jobs started getting more and more dangerous. I think he was trying to get rid of us to tie up loose ends. So I did as I said, forced him into the deal and left his employ again.” He looked out into the bay. “There, no you know everything there is to know about my past dealings with Sanchez. No more secrets. But I’m afraid it doesn’t change the situation, does it?”

“You mean your deal with him still has to be honored.”

“Yes. So if you want a different partner, then really, go ahead, I understand…”

“Not a chance. I think we can do this. And I didn’t tell you yesterday, but I have a lead now, thanks to Alec.”

“Oh, I have one too, while we’re at it. Time and place for a meeting but it’s next week.”

“C’mon, we can discuss that at home.”

“Yes, please. The subway stations have warm fans. Maybe we can make it there before my tail freezes off.”

  
###  
  


When Fernando got back from the bar that night, the streets and courtyard around the commune were quiet. Tenhouser was sitting in front of the door, dozing. Fernando regarded him with mixed feelings, but he knew that the large rhino was more a deterrent than an actual guard anyway. They couldn’t afford a professional bouncer to guard the warehouse twenty four-seven, and even if he slept, nobody could sneak by the rhino as long as he leaned against the door.

Fernando poked the sleeping mammal carefully – at which Tenhouser instantly shot up, knocked over the small crate he’d been sitting on and nearly smacked the oryx with a backhand before he realized the situation.

“Boss, sorry, I was just-”

Fernando shushed him with a finger before whispering: “It’s all right, you’re doing fine.” The rhino looked embarrassed enough as he let him in, and Fernando saw no reason to worsen his night any more. He didn’t even have the heart to tell him to stop calling him ‘boss’.

The main hall was quiet, everyone having withdrawn to sleep into the various rooms and hammocks. The few that hadn’t were out and likely engaged in less than legal activities.

When he moved towards his own room, he noticed that another one, which was still lit. After a brief hesitation, he stuck his head in the door and could confirm that Toffra was indeed still up and sitting at her laptop.

“And hereby it is proven that honey badgers do in fact not need sleep like the rest of us,” he whispered.

She looked over her shoulder with a withering glare. “You’re one to talk, Fern.” She pointed to another desk in the room. “Your meal got a bit cold by now.”

He closed the door behind him and went to investigate the container she’d pointed at. The way it smelled… “You… you got me grass-fangorn-stew? The real thing? How?!”

She snorted and turned back to the monitor. “I have my ways,” she said snappishly.

It wasn’t that he doubted her ability. It surprised him that she’d remembered his favorite food and had gone out of her way to get it into this little hole they currently called home. It was, quite frankly, the last thing he’d expected to come home to today.

There was no crate to sit down on so he kneeled down next to her to be at eye level. “Thank you, Toff, I really appreciate it. I’m sorry I skipped dinner today, I was out for some business again, an opportunity I just couldn’t let slide.”

“You could’ve taken me with you, dum-dum,” she growled, which took him aback. “Or anyone who can defend themselves, at least.” She turned and poked a sharp claw into his chest, hard enough to hurt but not to draw blood, proving her point. “You shouldn’t run around the streets like the dangers don’t apply to the great Fernando. You couldn’t gore a damn squirrel with those fancy horns!”

“Unlikely,” he conceded. “’Cause they are small and fast.”

“Don’t-” she slapped her own face in frustration. “You always do this, Fern. What could possibly be so important that you’d need to risk your life again? All for a few ungrateful low-lives here.”

He knew that was mostly her stress talking so he didn’t chide her for it. They both knew that the other commune members were neither ungrateful nor low-lives… for the most part.

“We could just get out of here,” she said, a very rare pleading undertone entering her voice, showing him how tired she must be.

She knew, just as well as Finnick did, that he wouldn’t. She knew even better his real motivations for it. He couldn’t just let the commune down, not when they’d placed their trust in him.

“Sooner or later, we’ll have to move on. It’s inevitable,” she added.

“It’s not,” he sternly said. “Not after tonight. Soon enough, Sanchez will have better things to do than to harass us.”

That perked her up. “Really? What did you do?”

“Oh, got a little stone rolling in the ZPD. They’ll investigate an alleged hideout, probably lose some officers before they realize it isn’t just some thugs, and soon enough the police will come after Sanchez’ hideouts and operations in force. He’ll be way too busy to bother us for a while.”

“Huh. That is quite sly. Didn’t think you had it in you.”

“Yeah, I am starting to think you were right all along with your views on the ZPD. I was hoping it’d get better now that they’re also allowing smaller mammals among their elite, but the last few months have proven just how useless they still are.”

“Well, let’s see if your plan works. You should have told me before, but I hope I still have enough time to prepare.”

“What’s there to do?”

“Lots. You leave the logistics to me and worry about everyone not accounted for. Even when Sanchez doesn’t hire more muscle to haunt us, the muscle will be bored and looking for opportunities on its own.”

“I will. Right after I have some of this delicious stew that you got for me. You don’t know how much that means to me.”

“Oh please, like I wouldn’t know the disgusting things you stuff your face with after all these years.”

“May there be many more to come,” he said with a quiet laugh.

“Hmm. Say, now that we’re seeing eye-to-eye on the issue of the police…”

“Closer at least,” he said, digging a plastic fork into the stew.

“…would that mean you’ll get me some more equipment for my side-activities?”

“Hmmmaybe. It’s not often I get an opportunity like with those ferret brothers. And we know how that turned out.”

She growled. “Those idiots. We even got them a safehouse.”

“I told you they had some more… extreme views than even you do.”

“That’s one word for it. But whatever. We got a good share of money and leverage out of it. Now I’ll try something different. I just need some better uplinks than what we get here.”

“That’s not easy to come by here, but I’ll keep it in mind, Toff.”

“Thanks. Now get some sleep.”

“Only if you take a break as well.”

She sighed and closed the laptop. “Fiiiine.”


	7. Chapter 7

Nick returned to the apartment, shopping bags in paw.

“Juuudy?” No answer. He dropped the bag next to the couch and made his way towards the kitchen.

As he was on level with the couch, a clack from the silent hifi deck prompted him to turn his head. Did the stereo-? Then something tackled him from behind, throwing him onto the couch. “Gotcha.”

Nick extracted his muzzle from between the cushions. “You’re working with distractions now?” he asked the bunny sitting on his back.

“Yup. Anything to get the drop on you.” she said, more than a hint of smugness in her voice.

“You’re getting scarily good at this, Judy.”

She held a cold beer in front of his muzzle but pulled it away when he reached for it. “Turn around, fox.”

With a playful growl, Nick pulled up his legs and catapulted himself around with enough force to throw her off. The weight on his back vanished for a second as she used the momentum to lithely hop up onto the backrest and back down into his lap once he had sat himself upright. This time she let him grab one of the bottles and they enjoyed a few pulls in silence.

For Nick, it was the calm before the storm, and for once he let himself enjoy the playful moments and casual intimacy without second-guessing it. Leaning back, he pulled her a bit closer.

“You know,” she said, “you’ve been a lot more open with using my name lately.”

He chuckled, hadn’t expected her to catch on to that yet. “Maybe I’ve always preferred it.”

“Really now,” she deadpanned.

“Okay, here’s a little tale for you then, you incredulous bunny. Let me bring you back to the old days of living on the streets; living among other talented – if less handsome – rogues like myself. Where everybody was watching his own back, holding his cards close to his chest, as the saying goes. Both friends and enemies were kept secret, to stop others from using them as leverage, or from forming alliances against you.”

Nestled into his chest, she hummed but said nothing. He knew she loved hearing these stories, and he kept them for rare occasions.

“These other rogues around you, they are not only skilled in knives and gambling, they also have to be good at reading people. Their expressions and especially their voices. So everyone has to pay attention to how they say things – all the time! One slip of the tongue can give away what you’re trying to hide. It can be a real drain on your concentration. And this is where names come in, because names have power. You’ve heard that before, haven’t you?

“As an old saying, yes,” she said. “But not as something to be taken seriously.”

“Well, there’s always a kernel of truth in these things, Judy. In this case it’s the fact that when you name someone, you put some of your feelings into the word, no matter if you feel love for them or hate.

“And suppressing that all day takes concentration, something you can’t always afford. So you use nicknames, ‘cause they add just a little bit of distance between you and the person you think about. Not much, but enough to make it easier to keep all emotions out.

“It serves as a small protection towards yourself and those around you. It is all a bit outdated, I admit, but it’s a habit that takes time to let go.”

He fell silent and took another pull from his beer, letting her digest.

“Okay, I get that. But you can’t tell me that’s why you started using the nicknames when we first met.”

“No, that was just to annoy you, of course. It tends to keep people off-balance. Well, that and it keeps me entertained.”

“And back to now, you’ve only stopped using it here, at home, because-”

“Because I realized there was nothing to hide that you didn’t already know.”

“Perceptive fox.”

Nick let the conversation trail off at that point, content to sit in silence for a few minutes. The day had been a hectic one and it was a mere continuation of the last evening. After getting back from the beach they had been up half the night making plans.

Judy was now going to try and infiltrate the commune with Alec’s help. The hare had been grateful enough about his rescue from the near-abduction to take the risk and vouch for her, getting her in as just another rabbit down on her luck who was seeking shelter.

Problem was, neither Nick nor Judy were cleared for undercover work yet. She’d do it in her free time of course, but then she said she had another idea she had to try while he was running errants.

“So, how’d it go on your end?” he asked.

She craned her neck to look up at him. “Oh, good, actually! There are some parameters for a civilian aid mission in the handbook that we can use, because it doesn’t require wearing a badge or anything. ZPD will even sponsor a small amount of medical supplies.”

He nodded. This was it then. Tomorrow she’d go into the commune alone.

He’d wanted to dispute her going alone but it was obvious that a hare bringing in a fox would raise much more questions and attract way too much attention than they could bear. In the end he had to admit he probably wouldn’t be able to talk his way out of that.

And while he didn’t like the idea of his partner doing this on her own, with him only sitting around and waiting (or catching up on paper-work most likely) he did want this mission to be a success. He needed it to be because if they cracked the case open here, they might not need to follow up on his own lead. A lead that would bring them right into Sanchez’ territory to find and apprehend troublemakers in their own hideout. No, everything considered this was the safer option and he’d already made his peace with the fact that he couldn’t always watch her back.

“I got the dyes then. You know how to apply them?” he asked.

“Never done it myself, but I watched some of my more rebellious brothers and sisters do it. I’ll be fine.”

“Better get to it then, there’s a few more things to discuss afterwards.”

  
###  
  


Judy stared in the bathroom mirror. A blue-eyed rabbit with lackluster brown fur stared back. “Hello Binks,” she mouthed, resisting the urge to smooth out the collar on the worn-out brown-coat again. It was heavy and ragged, but exactly what a down-on-her-luck farmer who came to the city might wear. It also contained a large variety of pockets, which would come in handy later. She didn’t ask where Nick had gotten it.

With one last critical look at her new persona, she turned around and went to present the result to her partner, who’d been failing to hide his anxiousness all evening. Which still irked her. One one level she understood perfectly well him wanting to be at her side for such a complicated mission, but on the other side she wished he could simply show more trust in her abilities.

She had once feared that trust was to be an issue between them. Like she had not been able to do enough to earn his trust, and that fear had been boiling up due to the topic of Sanchez’ lately, particularly when he told her he flat out didn’t wanted to tell her anything, right here in their own apartment.

To be honest with herself, she still couldn’t completely grasp the staggering depths he had to go to to make sure they could talk freely. Spy novels were a joke compared to the level of paranoia he was displaying when it came to maybe being overheard by the city’s underworld.

According to him, there could be a mic in just this room, maybe behind this very mirror she was still staring at…

No.

No, she would not get drawn into that. She couldn’t hold it against him, after the life he’d lived, and she wouldn’t break the rules he had set for these sensitive topics, but she refused to become that paranoid herself.

She had to concentrate on the mission now, and finally she had something to do for the case! “There, all done,” she announced as she rounded the couch, trying to let her voice slip back in the country dialect that was used in the Tri-Burrow area.

His eyes went wide as he eyed her up and down, while his nose went wild, trying to process what his eyes couldn’t. “Roll your shoulders forward a bit and keep them hunched down. Perfect,” he nodded. “Passing you on the street, even I could mistake you for one of your siblings now.”

“Good.” She dropped the heavy coat before hopping up on the couch as well.

“Don’t take this too easy now. Not looking like Judy Hopps is only a part of your new persona, but the major part is looking like you belong into your backstory.”

“I got this, Nick. We worked it out, it’s easy enough to play a farmer, and I know you thought of everything,” she said.

He let out a long breath. “I had but a day to prepare you, Judy, and there’s so much I can’t teach in that time. But listen, one last thing…” He looked away. “There will be moments of doubt. Of panic. There is no working around that. Moments when you just want to drop everything and bolt. And that’s not a rabbit joke.”

His grave voice had already made that point clear, but she said nothing and instead turned fully towards him to show that she was listening.

“In those moments, the most important thing is keeping your mask on and waiting for it to pass. Your face needs to be stone, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Don’t try to act. It won’t be necessary in this scenario. Try to always show less emotions than you normally do. Okay, that was a rabbit joke.” The edge of his muzzle briefly twitched up.

She gave him the soft punch in the arm that he was expecting. “Thanks, Nick. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Six hours now, Jude,” he said, glancing at the clock. “You should get some rest. I’ll… sleep out here. See you off in the morning.”

She followed his darting eyes for a moment and knew he was already preparing himself for a restless night. Glancing back at her room, she said: “Hope you don’t mind company, then, ‘cause if I need to sleep in these clothes at least once, I might as well do it here.”

Nick mechanically nodded and got up to open some living room windows and switched off the lights. Then he reclined at the other end of the couch.

Judy hesitated, making a show out of spreading her coat over the couch, wasting time to make up her mind. Nick wasn’t the only one who was apprehensive about tomorrow, even if she kept it hidden for his sake. So maybe tonight it wasn’t selfish to be a bit, well, selfish. “Hey,” she said into the darkness.

“Hm?”

“You know what would help with my nerves?” she rhetorically asked.

“A few things. Most of which would also not let you get any sleep.”

She chuckled, because knowing Nick Wilde, there was at least some intended innuendo in there, and she was thankful for the darkness in which he couldn’t see – oh, wait, he totally could. Maybe he would at least miss how red her ears were.

“And some others for which you’d probably want to be alone, so I can…”

“Nick. You’re rambling,” she teased.

“As I am known to do.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Only in darkness,” he admitted. “When I can neither see nor smell the one I’m talking to. It kind of… disconnects me.”

“Oh. … What I meant was, get your butt over here and cuddle me, if you don’t mind.”

An unseen chuckle. “As the lady commands.”

  
###  
  


If the last few months of working with Nick had taught Judy Hopps anything about herself, it was that she wasn’t as good an actor as she once thought she was. The relaxed behavior that she usually only allowed herself in her off-time didn’t mix well with the highly focused and alert state that had been ingrained in her for police work. Which was a problem for undercover missions like this and was the reason why she couldn’t help but feel apprehensive about the whole thing. But she wouldn’t be Judy Hopps if she couldn’t push such useless fears aside and get it done anyway.

Or so she hoped.

On her way to the meeting place, she went over every detail again and again. Walking, talking, posture, backstory, trying to push away everything else that didn’t belong to her persona. Like the last night, snuggled up on the couch with Nick. No, bad Judy, time to focus on work. But more relaxed. Easy, right?

She nearly missed her bus stop.

She got there early, but Alec walked around the fence into the small dumpster yard only minutes later.

“Hey Alec!”

“Ah! Judy?” He stopped in his tracks.

“It’s Binks now,” she said with a wink. “I hope you haven’t told anyone my name.”

“Oh, no,” Alec said, “We haven’t mentioned you to anyone yet. There’s no need, really. People just come and go every week and as long as they have someone to vouch for them, they can use the shelter.”

“Perfect.” She hopped down and gave him a quick hug.

“Your, uh, coat smells a bit like fox?”

“Oh, right.” Stupidstupidstupid. Of course she hadn’t showered this morning, just reapplied some scent-off, but that didn’t work on the coat. “I don’t know where the coat came from. Think it’s going to be a problem?”

“Nah, probably not. There are a few keen sniffers for sure, but nobody puts their nose into other mammals’ business enough to care.”

“Good.“ She ran him through her backstory, just in case, and then they started their way back into the Haymarket.

After a quick detour to a florist that Judy remembered from her first day on this case, they made a beeline back to the commune shelter, and Judy tried to force herself into being calm. This wasn’t a proverbial lion’s den, or even a hive of villains and criminals. Just some mammals down on their luck who needed her help. She still would’ve felt a lot better with a wire or some way to stay in contact with the outside world, but Nick had been adamantly against it.

“Too easy to detect it,” he said. “If there’s anyone worth their salt to pat you down, they will find it, and then you’re really screwed.”

So she’d gone without her phone or her wallet or a wire. Just some bills and the various medicine bottles that were tucked away in the coat’s pockets. The medicine had been sponsored by the ZPD, which meant they had to refill them into new, blank bottles that didn’t bear the city’s logo.

They rounded the wall and came in view of the rhino guard, and Judy couldn’t help but get tense, because surely he’d recognize her on the spot; she’d been face-to-face with him already, and how could he not, he was a rhino, not a mole.

“Morning, Tenhouser,” Alec greeted the guard with enough warmth in his voice that made Judy think they were more familiar than just strangers living under the same roof.

The rhino huffed and nodded, then jerked his head in her direction.

“This is Binks,” he introduced her. “She’s a friend who’s had some bad luck lately and I offered her to stay here for a few days.”

The glare of Tenhouser seemed piercing for a few seconds and she tried her best to keep her face neutral, all the while convinced that he’d call her out any second now and ruin the whole plan before it even got rolling. But then he just nodded and rumbled out a “welcome” before stepping aside to let them in.

“Thanks,” she managed and slipped inside after Alec.

The main hall looked surprisingly small and cramped, considering the huge size of the building. From the entrance, she could see a row of separate rooms that bordered the hall on the ground level, all wide and only separated by broken gates. A second row above it, slightly set back, looked like offices with actual doors (but mostly broken windows) and created a walkway that circled the hall. Above that were the bare rafters, where several hammocks were hung. The roof was slightly slanted and had a row of windows all around, and several holes, providing most of the light. The floor of the hall was littered with rows of metal crates that created some artificial separation, and a large open space that was taken up by a large, shallow mound of earth.

Despite the early hour (it was just past six), the hall was already humming with conversations and noises that Judy couldn’t place yet.

“This way,” Alec said. “Let’s see if my wife is up yet. Later I’ll introduce you to Fernando. He’s sort of an unofficial leader here. You don’t have to listen to him, but everyone does for the most part. But he’s a nice guy, you’ll see.” He led her along the left row of rooms and up some stairs onto the first floor. Some mammals acknowledged him with a nod and a greeting and Judy with some curious glances, but nobody stopped them. So either it really was easier than she expected or it was just too early for anybody to bother.

Alec led her to one of the corner rooms. The doors here were made for larger mammals, but were made in that old style that had two handles, one that could be easily gripped by large animals, and another at half that height for mammals like Judy.

Inside were a couple of field cots and more hammocks, most of them still in use. Judy saw a couple of armadillos, two dikdiks and one raccoon. On a smaller cot on the far wall sat a familiar hare. Alec quickly crossed the room and embraced his wife. “Honey, this is Binks,” he said in a low tone. “She’s the one who helped me out a few days ago.”

“So good to meet you, Binks,” Rieda said and waved her closer. “I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done for my husband, distracting those goons.”

This wasn’t part of her backstory, but Judy nodded. “It was nothing,” she said in her country drawl. “I help where I can. Alec told me you had a bad ankle, too? Want me to have a look at it?”

Rieda exchanged a quick glance with Alec, who nodded. “Oh alright, but it’s healing fine, I say.” She propped one leg up on the cot; it was crudely bandaged and still swollen. Judy unwrapped it and gave Alec one of the tinctures to rub in around the swelling, while she quietly talked to Rieda.

“How did this happen?”

The hare sighed and gave her a stern look that was obviously meant for Judy and not for Binks before explaining. “There was a fight in the hall. One of the newer wolves and ol’ Hanks got into a scrap. It’s nothing unusual, these pack fights, but with how tension has been of late, I guess aggression is starting to come out quicker. It got a bit more heated and bloody. A few of us tried to intervene and break them apart, me being one of them. We managed, but I got knocked back and landed wrong on the ankle. More embarrassing, really, than anything else.”

“Things are turning ugly at times,” Alec said. “Yesterday, Henson snarled at me over a loaf of bread, and we’re really not even short on those.”

“It’s getting a bit claustrophobic when people are afraid to go outside. But they’re still good mammals, Ju- Binks.”

“Got it,” Judy said and took the tincture back from Alec before pulling out a wad of fresh bandages to re-wrap the ankle. This all fit well with what they had already found out, but she still had to find somebody who knew why these attacks happened in the first place.

“C’mon, Binks, let’s fetch some food. That way you’ll get to see some more of us.”

The designated kitchen room was at the other end of the building. There was a queue out front, and Alec told her to wait there for a second, just in case he didn’t find anything better, and then marched off. He wasn’t fully out of sight yet when another voice behind her spoke up.

“A new face, eh? Now that’s rich. Who are you, little bunny?” asked a scraggly tiger who casually leaned against the wall behind her, just the next one in the queue but also towering over her in a manner that was just a little bit too obvious and with just a hint of violence in his voice that most mammals probably couldn’t make out, but her trained ears certainly could.

Don’t be Judy Hopps, she reminded herself, before looking up with a meek smile. “I’m Binks. Who are you?” she asked, hoping to hit the right spot between meek and challenging.

The tiger huffed, his bad breath almost making her jump back. “Careful there, little bunny, curiosity killed the cat and all that.”

Judy shrugged and turned away from him. “Whatever. Didn’t expect you to be worth getting to know anyway.”

A low growl had some of the mammals in the queue in front of her turn around but then she (and them) realized it was actually a low chuckle. “Smart move, bunny. Best not to get too attached to anyone just yet. Might be for naught anyway.”

“Oh? Why’s that?” she asked, trying to sound only semi-interested and to prevent her ears from perking up.

“What are you, daft? Bah, dumb bunnies.”

Judy suppressed a sigh and turned away. Maybe she’d try again with him later.

“And I’m back.” Alec said, suddenly appearing with a big bowl of salad and greens. “No need to wait anymore, Binks, we can go someplace else to prepare this.” He pulled her out of the line. “Sorry about that,” he added once they were out of earshot. “Taking to Dallas is never very pleasant. He likes to scare newcomers, I think.”

“I gathered,” she said dryly.

They prepared the salad in a little kitchen corner that was too small for any of the larger mammals here so they only had to share with some squirrels and raccoons. They ate together back in the room of Rieda’s cot, along a window, looking out north so they could just see a bit of the river. It was a small area of relative peace, while all around them the commune slowly awakened, and by Judy’s first estimate over sixty mammals started to go about their day.

“We’ll need to start working soon,” Alec informed her. “Got a client who wants his gear yesterday if possible.” He waved over to the corner, where an improvised workbench with leather scraps and tools was visible.

So this part of the room was where the two hares both worked and lived. It was a bit endearing but mostly sad, since Judy had seen the old workshop they had to give up.

“Before we leave you to look around on your own, there’s someone you should talk to,” Rieda said. “But he’ll be up a bit later, so it’s best you stay here with us until then.”

So Judy waited at the door of the room, mostly, peering out onto the walkway as best as she could and exchanging a few words with the room’s other inhabitants, but none of them really cared to interrupt their morning routine to chat with her.

Then, about an hour later, an oryx came out of one of the other rooms and sat down at the railing of the walkway, just as Alec had predicted.

“Mornin’, Fernando,” Alec greeted him, Judy trailing behind.

“And good morning to you too, Alec,” the large oryx replied politely. “And it seems the rumors are true, you brought us a new face?”

“Sure did, this is Binks.”

“Hello,” Judy said with a casual wave.

“I told her she could stay for a bit, until she finds a new roof or can afford to move back into the countryside,” Alec explained.

“I see,” Fernando said with a thoughtful nod. “Your money run out sooner than expected, Binks?”

“Yeah, something like that,” she said, acting embarrassed.

“It happens to the best, believe me. Alec and Rieda probably clued you in already, but I’ll say it again: don’t start fights, ask before you take something and respect your fellow mammals, then they’ll respect you. With that, you’re free to find a niche here and stay as long as you need. Sound good?”

“Yes, thank you,” Judy said, not needing to fake a small smile. This had gone better than expected already, but now came the hard part. “I won’t take up space longer than is necessary. From what I heard, tensions are high right now and I don’t want to add to that by crowding your place up even more.”

“No doubt,” Fernando sighed and stepped towards the rail, looking down into the hall.

But I can assure you things are not as bleak as you may have heard. We may have some unruly neighbors right now, but I think their interest will wane soon.”

“That’s mighty optimistic of you,” Alec said, his tone thoughtful. “But I’d love to see it come true.”

“Come now, Alec,” Fernando countered. “You and your wife have been with us for over four months now, if my memory serves me right?”

“We have indeed,” the old hare sounded surprised.

“And have I ever made empty promises so far?”

“Ah, I don’t think so, no.”

“Good. Because I sure do not intend to start making them now.” Fernando said with a cameradic wink before turning back to Judy. “So there you have it, Binks. If you have any questions or problems, you can bring them to me, while I sit here and try to keep this place a bit organized. Otherwise, enjoy our little shelter.”

“I will, thanks again.” She’d decided that digging into Fernando directly would be too likely to blow her cover right now. He had a leader personality with much more charisma that one would expect in a dump like this, and he wasn’t just for show, if she interpreted Alec’s warm attitude toward him correctly.

She followed the hare back to their room, which was now empty, save for her and the two hares. Still she dropped her voice when saying: “I’ll start looking and asking around now. Is there any room where you keep the injured, or are they all in their own cots?”

“Wilkerson is a nurse who keeps watch over most of the injured,” Alec said. “Little sheep, you can’t miss her, she lives three doors down. The other injured, they hang around anywhere in the shelter or in the yard.”

Judy nodded and slipped out the door.

Finding the nurse was easy enough, but she wouldn’t just let Judy tend to her patients on her own and was hovering the whole time, denying Judy the chance to have some quiet talks alone with the injured. And asking everyone the same questions while she overheard would tip her off to the newcomer’s agenda rather fast.

While she was making the rounds, the door was kicked open loudly and an annoyed looking badger stepped in backwards, carrying a backpack that was about three sizes too large for her. She set it down in the middle of the room and then fixed Judy and the nurse with a glare, while Judy was handing over some painkillers to an anteater.

“What’s this? Wilkerson, you suddenly got supplies again? Can I go and take this back with me?” she hissed.

“Err, no, Miss, errr, Toffra. It’s just that this rabbit here...”

Judy stepped forward without thinking, between the growling badger and the flustered sheep. “Binks is my name. I’m afraid I don’t have much with me but I had a few extra painkillers that I shared with the nurse.”

Toffra snorted mirthlessly. “New face, eh? Next time you bring it to me, understood? I’m in charge of the supplies here and I don’t get how you people expect me to manage priorities when I don’t know what’s already available!” She threw her hands in the air and stalked off again.

Judy glanced at the nurse who made for the large backpack as soon as the badger had left her line of sight. “Who was… that exactly?”

Wilkerson didn’t look up. “Toffra? She manages distribution of food and medical supplies. She’s very… efficient.”

“I don’t think I want to cross her,” Judy said, remembering her role as Binks.

“You won’t,” the ewe assured her, rummaging through the backpack. “She keeps to herself most of the time. When she’s not delivering something, I barely see her.”

Judy shrugged and just continued with her round, while the ewe busied herself with the contents of the backpack.

After she’d made the round and distributed painkillers and other medication to the patients, she turned directly to the nurse and asked what she thought was the best way to avoid getting hurt, but all she was told was to best “stay indoors.”

She wandered outside the nurse’s room, only to find that Toffra had not retreated to whatever corner she worked in. It seemed she could stand Fernando at least and hung around the place where he was working. And this time, no sneer was adorning her muzzle. Judy hung around the door, listening and trying to look like she was checking the pockets of her coat.

“-still here, isn’t he?” Fernando asked, a sly tone in his voice.

“I don’t know what he’s after,” Toffra said.

“I thought he talked to you at least,” the oryx snickered.

The honey badger shrugged. After a moment she said: “Sometimes. Doesn’t mean I understand him, though. But he’s not so creepy anymore, I guess.”

Fernando’s shoulders shook while he was typing on his laptop.

Going back to Alec’s room she heard Toffra downstairs, cursing out a wulf who didn’t get out of her way quick enough.

Judy waited a bit and then followed a couple of other residents out into the courtyard and sat on a crate while they (two hyenas and two wolves) played basketball against each other. One of the wolves eventually tagged her in while she fetched a drink, and while Judy threw herself at this physical activity the same way she always did, the ball was just a bit too big and heavy for her size, making interceptions akin to getting punched around a whole lot. Still, she barely managed to hold the team up, and the others certainly had a good time seeing a little bunny catapult herself at the ball every time.

When they sat down for a break, Judy got her next chance. “Feels good to take my mind off all that doom and gloom that seems to be going around here.”

Bark, one of the hyenas, quickly swallowed the line. “I hear ya, Binks. Gotta forget the outside and all that bad business.”

The other, older hyena snarled at him. “Can’t just ignore your problems, Bark. Sooner or later they’ll come and get us here, if we don’t do anything but sit and wait.”

“Why do you say that?” Judy asked.

He took a swig from the water bottle before answering. “Guess you don’t know yet, eh? But a lot of people think this is all about a deal gone bad between us and Sanchez.”

“I don’t even think that a big-time smuggler is behind the trouble,” one of the two female wolves, Katy, chimed in. “I mean, why would he? There are plenty of other warehouses, all empty, no need to take this one from us.”

“See, that’s exactly why I think there’s been some deal. Fernando always goes out to deal with other gangs, right? I bet he screwed that up once.”

“Bark, you haven’t even been here long enough,” the older hyena said. “You should’ve seen how it was here last year, before Fernando showed up and took over the organization. Renner was the old boss, and things were a lot rougher back then, let me tell ya.”

“More violent scumbags in here,” Katy nodded. “But at least we could come and go without fear of getting ambushed in the streets.”

“So, Fernando just showed up after this Renner disappeared,” Judy asked, her mind locking onto that detail.

“He and the badger, yes,” Katy said. “About a week after Renner was gone. Some say Renner stepped on Sanchez’ toes back then, but as you can see, people will just attribute all problems to the local crime syndicate.”

“Renner was scum himself,” the other wolf suddenly said. “Wouldn’t be surprised if somebody just had enough of him.”

They went back and forth like that for a bit but Judy got no more interesting rumors out of it. She knew she needed to find somebody who’d been around long enough to witness how Fernando replaced the commune leadership. That Sanchez was in some way involved wasn’t really a question to her anymore, not after what people outside the commune had already said, but the motive and the capacity of his involvement were still in the dark. These people really had nothing that could be of use to a smuggler, that much seemed true, and she highly doubted that they had hidden away luxury goods or gold bars in some hidden cellar. But since she had time to kill, she would take a look around anyway.

First off, though, she went back inside and looked around for Dallas, the old tiger.

But either he was out or he didn’t want to be found because it was afternoon when Judy finally spotted the motley tiger sitting in a dark corner next to the kitchen. “Hey, Dallas?” she went up and sat down across from him.

“Will you look at that, it’s the little bunny again, searching me out,” he drawled with a crooked smile.

“It’s Binks,” she said. “And yes, I’m here, curiosity and all.”

“How remarkable,” Dallas deadpanned. “I’ve seen you scurry around all day. Don’t you ever get tired?”

Judy nearly flinched. So he had been here, had been observing her and could probably make a few educated guesses about her intentions already. Her safest bet now seemed to just up and leave before the unpredictable tiger decided to stop her ‘dangerous curiosity’ or yell out about her not being what she seemed. But then again, Judy had made no further progress for half the day now, and Dallas could have the intel she needed on Fernando and his predecessor. And if things went south, she could still hope to escape. Most people in the commune that she’d spoken to didn’t look the violent type, but there were still an awful lot of them between her and the nearest exit. Still, she couldn’t return empty-handed.

“No, I just like hearing stories. And I heard you might have some to tell about Renner.”

His smile dropped immediately and Judy tensed her legs in case he’d take a quick swipe at her there and then. But he said: “There’s a name few people throw around these days. Most mammals here are glad he’s gone, that old fox.”

She bit back the question if he was among them and waited.

“Only good story would be about how he vanished, but you won’t find anyone alive to tell how that happened. It was a messy night, as we realized the next morning. Lots of blood and no bodies, but Renner and his inner circle were gone.”

“Why was it that nobody liked him anyway?”

“Didn’t say nobody, little Binks. But he was older and he ran things differently than Fernando, so there was a lot more coming and going among the commune each week and a lot less familiar faces than now. And that’s all I’m telling you on the matter.”

Judy nodded slowly. Dallas deliberately left her in the dark on some things, but that was to be expected, and she’d figure things out sooner or later, she was sure. But on another matter… “Sounds bad. Fernando seems all right in comparison I guess,” she said conversationally.

“Can’t judge it for yourself?” the tiger said, crossing his arms.

“I don’t judge so quickly. But you’ve been here a while.”

Dallas regarded her quietly for some moments. “I’m not worried about him. He thinks large, while most mammals are just caught up in their own lives.”

Judy nodded, digesting the words, trying to figure out what he was getting at. “So who are you worried about?”

“Those he works with who don’t share his vision,” the tiger answered and stood up. “Sometimes we’re blind to those closest to us,” he cryptcally added and walked away.

  
###  
  


Plan A was a bust after all. She hadn’t managed to find enough information to head back during the day, so during a small salad dinner Judy informed Rieda and Alec that she’d stay the night and then found herself a niche in the hall to curl up with her coat. The trick now was to wake up after midnight, so she drank a lot of water and didn’t make it as comfortable for herself as she could have. After that she nearly couldn’t fall asleep in the unfamiliar environment and the smells and sounds of so many strangers around her.

Nick. He knew plan B, but she wished she could still find a way to tell him how things were going and that she was fine. For now. Plan B was to skulk around at night, maybe have a look at that laptop of Fernando or some other notes, while everyone was sleeping.

She’d used her long ears to overhear some conversations between Fernando and other commune members during the day, but it was nothing unexpected: supplies of food, repairs for some areas, and other organization for the commune. Judy was more and more starting to think about the badger. Was she the one Dallas was refering to, close to Fernando but not sharing his goals? And with those thoughts she drifted off to an uneasy sleep.

When she awoke again, the room had gone mostly quiet. Nocturnal animals kept out at night to avoid disturbing the others, she’d heard, so she should be good to go. Her inner clock told her it was about midnight. She stood up and slowly made her way to the toilets. Both because she had to and because it was a good cover to look around for who might still be up and watching her.

The hall’s only illumination was a stripe of moonlight shining through the roof windows. It was barely enough for Judy to see, but that would also be the case for all but the nocturnal predators, she hoped. She heard many stir and turn in their sleep, too many to rely on her ears to detect anybody watching her. Taking chances seemed to be inevitable this night.

She made it look she was still a bit confused and took a roundabout way towards the toilets, which brought her to a corridor that still had light in one of the rooms. Pausing at the corner, she tilted her ears and strained to hear something. There were voices, but she couldn’t make them out. She crept closer towards the ajar door, heart hammering in her chest so loudly she was sure that they’d hear it, whoever was in there.

One voice belonged to Fernando. “No, we’ve been over this, Toff! Sanchez is a proud tiger. He can’t be motivated by fear, the way prey is.”

“You still believe that most prey are motivated by that? Fine, but so can a tiger, if given the right encouragement,” she heard Toffra say.

“Maybe. But we don’t have the means for it, and that’s why I’ll try negotiating again. I can play the weak, humble prey if I have to, and that’ll work a lot easier.”

Judy crept closer to the door, keeping on the tips of her paws. As long as she didn’t know what kinds of mammals were in there, it was best to expect the worst. She spied through the crack in the door. There were only two silhouettes in front of weak monitor light, Fernando who was standing next to the desk, and the smaller one of Toffra who was sitting on a crate.

“Fern, it’s been over half a year now,” the badger said. “If Sanchez would be interested in anything less than total surrender, he would have done so by now! You’re taking stupid risks again!”

The larger oryx put a hand on the badger’s shoulder. “That’s life, Toff. We all have to take risks. But we should never let fear motivate us. We need to be better than that, okay?”

The badger turned her head and looked up. Neither of them spoke for a moment, but Judy could see the silent communication between them.

“Oh,” Fernando then said and dropped his hand to his side. “Toff…”

“Don’t bother, Fern. It’s clear what comes first for you.”

In a gesture that looked involuntary to Judy, Fernando reached up to rub one of his horns before he spoke. “People are getting kidnapped, Toff. We need to put an end to this. But giving in would be just as bad!”

Toffra nodded but didn’t look at him again.

Fernando sighed. “Come with me for a moment. I want to show you something.”

Judy quickly slipped away from the door before the oryx could turn around. Hide hide hide, but where? The corridor ended after a few more meters, so she quietly hopped back the way she came towards the hall. There was a small alcove between some crates near the bend, so she hid in there, making herself small and flat in what looked like the deepest shadow, just in case they’d look in her direction. Because if they saw and identified her, she just realized, then it wouldn’t be simply be bad for her, but also for Alec and Rieda, who vouched for her.

She heard hoof and claw steps exit the room and another door open before they even passed by her. They must have crossed the hall into another room. Judy’s heart pounded so loudly at her next thought. Everything in her screamed to stay put, stay hidden, but instead she quietly made her way back to the room. Yes, there was now light in a second room on the opposite side of the corridor. She might have minutes or only seconds, but the opportunity was just too good to pass up! Judy slipped into the room with the running laptop.

It took her only a moment to find the email icon. The program was already running so Judy created a new mail, attached the last fifty conversations that she were in the inbox to it, and sent it out to nicolas.wilde@zpd.gov.

Next she wanted to delete the outgoing mail, but a pop-up informed her that the mail was unable to be delivered. Cringing, she realized she’d mistyped the address.

Judy glanced over her shoulder, feeling like they’d be back any second now, and she needed to get out and through the corridor now!

Trying to calm her shaking paws, she retyped the address and clicked send again. This time it worked. Then she deleted the sent email from the outbox to remove the trace of her work…

Footsteps!

No time to run back outside. Should she fight her way out? Judy looked around the small room, but there wasn’t a place to hide, only a mattress, the improvised desk, and a clothing rack. Following her first instinct, she hopped behind the desk and cowered in the shadow of one crate. Since the light from the monitor was the only source of illumination, she’d be well hidden behind it, and she dared to peer from her hiding spot.

“Toffra?” a silent voice asked and a moment later she saw that a ferret had put his head through the door.

Not just any ferret. And if Judy hadn’t been so terrified in that moment, she might have been surprised at how easily she recognized him. It was the third ferret brother, the one who got away after throwing bricks at her and Seyla Serkov in that raid over half a year ago!

She didn’t have time to wonder what he was doing here, all she could think about was that he was between her and the exit, that was she was trapped here and that any second he would come in with the others and he just had to smell her if he came any closer!

“I’m here,” came another voice from outside. “One second.” More footsteps and the ferret head vanished for a moment.

Fighting down her mounting panic, Judy looked around. Another exit, anything. A window! There was a row of windows close to the ceiling where she’d missed them, but one of them was either broken or ajar, she couldn’t tell from her position.

She took the chance and jumped. Normally she’d made the jump with easy, but the heavy coat was holding her back more than she expected. She barely reached the bottom ledge had had to haul herself up and awkwardly roll herself through the gap.

She still clung to the ledge with one hand though, hanging on the outside wall. There was absolute darkness below her. She had no idea if she was one meter above ground or ten. It was a stupid fear of course, she knew she was at ground level and doubted there were any ten-meter pits around she warehouse, she certainly hadn’t seen any, but oh, if there was a dumpster below her, she’d wake up half the building by jumping down on it!

Footsteps and voices inside – would they spot her paw? – she held her breath and let go.

She landed silently on concrete. No new noise came from inside, no shouts followed her escape, so she started towards the wall, aiming for the darkest spot between street lanterns to vault it and leave the compound.

Judy reached the street and started running.

  
###  
  


Fernando led Toffra to his own room, to the strongbox behind his cot where he kept the few belongings he had accumulated in the city, and a few which he had kept from before.

“Have you ever found out where I came from?” he asked the badger.

“I never- I mean, I asked, but…” she didn’t meet his eyes.

“Don’t worry,” he chuckled. “I expected a smart mammal such as you to look into it. I was just curious if you had found something.”

“Well, of course I had to look into it. You just appeared in the harbour and started forging a small group of muscle into an efficient street gang that outmaneuvered any competitors that weren’t at least ten times our size.” She started pacing up and down. “You know I was kinda mad at you at first?”

“I guess I took your spot?” Fernando guessed, trying to remember how the little gang was looking when he came in.

“Exactly. I had half a mind to have you offed the first week,” she blustered.

He only chuckled because her temper hadn’t improved much since then. “I’m glad I was useful enough to be allowed to live.”

“You were. And when Sanchez tried to take over the gang, but then just ended up hiring you instead, I thought it’d be smart to stick around. But neither in the gang, nor with the resources of Sanchez did I find out where you came from.”

Fernando gave a rueful smile. It wasn’t that Sanchez had ‘just’ hired him, not really. He had actually disbanded the gang and walked away after the smuggler had put an ultimatum upon him. Not his finest moments.

But then Sanchez had approached him in person, and he found that his offer to take him on was something he actually didn’t want to refuse. He was surprised to see that a smuggler could see beyond the money as well.

“You would have needed a lot more luck, because I hadn’t been in this city for more than a few weeks at that point.” He turned around and opened the box, looking for the one item he had kept with him from his days outside the city. “We were a travelling herd. We traveled the countryside and lived of what we could find. Coming to the city, however, was what broke us apart.” He found what he was looking for and lifted it up. “Out there in the wilderness, the only thing you had to worry about was getting lost and walking in circles. We would always be okay, as long as we kept moving forward, never lingering in the same woods for too long.” He showed her the small, broken compass.

“You lived… in the wilderness? No way.”

He chuckled. “We moved from town to town, but avoided big cities like this one. Out there, it’s easy to stick to towns that are run by other ungulates, such as we were. Maybe that was what broke us up here. Too many conflicting ideologies.”

“Wait wait wait, back up,” Toffra held up her arms. “You are way to well educated to just come out of the rutting woods, Fern.”

“I didn’t say we were luddites. We had a few phones, and ebook readers. Libraries lent those out, you know? There were some teachers among us-”

“Why would anyone want to live that way?”

“That’s not something I can explain today. What I wanted to show you was this.”

“And old compass,” she deadpanned. “An actual relic belonging in a museum.”

“Yes. That I was still using a year before we met.”

“I don’t get it.” She put her hands on her hips, furrowing her brows.

“This _relic_ may be broken, but I haven’t forgotten how to use it, or what it taught me. I know how this looks to you right now, like we’re lost in the woods, not knowing if we’ll make it tomorrow, but I know where we’re going and I know how we’ll get there.” He dropped the compass back in the box, on top of his spare laundry. “I can’t ask you to walk this way with me. You can take your things and go and I’ll make sure you’ll make it far away, to another part of the city, or out of it, before Sanchez even knows it.” He could see how torn she was. “But if you stay, I need you to trust me.”

She took up her nervous pacing again. “You really think you have a chance, do-”

“Toffra?” A voice came from outside. Fernando thought it sounded like Will Dersil.

The badger made a disgruntled noise. “I’m here! One second.” She looked back to him with an unreadable look, then turned and walked out to meet the ferret.

  
###  
  


When she arrived back at the apartment, Judy felt as exhausted as on her first day at the academy. The adrenaline had settled somewhere on the way, which had left her in the position of her body craving sleep again, instead of jogging through the streets with an unwieldy, thick coat. She took a moment to steady herself as she stopped at the bottom of the entrance stairs and was about to fumble for her keys when she remembered she hadn’t taken anything with her. No ID, no wallet, no phone, no keys, and now she had to rely on Nick to wake up and let her in, or she’d be sleeping out here in the bushes.

He opened the door seconds after the second bell, and Judy sighed in relief and trudged up the stairs.

“Hey, Carrots,” he whispered when she came in sight of their front door. “How’re you doing?”

“Just tired.” The mere words seemed to reinforce the bone-weariness that had settled upon her. But she couldn’t let that stop her, not yet. She’d thought about what to do first, and realized the most important step would be to make sure the things she heard tonight were not forgotten. “But we can’t sleep yet.”

“Tea will be ready in five,” he said and stepped aside to let her through.

“Great. I’ll use that time to grab a quick shower.”

Popping out the contact lenses took about another five minutes, but then she finally looked like herself again. Nick had even prepared a pile of clothes for her, so she grabbed what she needed and joined him in the living room.

“Did you get the email I sent you?”

“Uhh, no. I don’t check my ZPD inbox on Friday nights.”

“Hold on then. It’ll still be there in the morning, but it may be the most informative part.” She hopped onto the couch and sat down cross-legged, not leaning into anything to avoid falling asleep when she blinked.

“Does that mean the other reconnaissance didn’t go so well, or that these emails contain every answer we need and more?” He handed her a cup.

“Probably the former,” she admitted. “I had to cut the sneaking-around part short when I was nearly discovered, but I got a chance to listen in to Fernando, who, by the way, happens to be some sort of unofficial leader of the commune.”

“I’ll be damned,” Nick mused. “So he’s been holding out on me.”

“More than you know, but his motivations seem to be protecting the commune anyway, that’s what I overheard. His friend even thinks he’s prioritizing it over his own safety.”

“So you think he’s trustworthy.”

She shook her head. “It’s much more complicated. He seems a bit out of place in a poor commune like that, and he just sort of showed up the week after the old leader mysteriously disappeared.”

“So maybe he was just put into the position by somebody else, is that what you think?”

“Maybe, yes. He also did try to negotiate with Sanchez, but apparently Sanchez wasn’t interested in compromises. That’s also something I overheard between Fernando and his friend. She’s a honey badger called Toffra, and those emails are from her laptop. Everything else I got are rumors.”

Nick pulled up his laptop. “All right. Give me a minute to note this down, then we’ll go over the day. And then we’ll get a few hours of sleep before our next shift starts.”

“Should’ve taken a day off,” she yawned.

“But you didn’t,” he said while typing. “’Cause that would mean admitting defeat.”

  
###  
  


Despite everything, sleep would not come to Nick. He had become unstuck from the flow of the night, his eyes slightly open but unfocused, his thoughts drifting without reaching anywhere.

His whole universe had shrunk to the heartbeat next to his ear, the soft rush of blood that went with it, the steady breaths, and the scent of sleeping bunny around him.

_Thu-thump, thu-thump, thu-thump, thu-thump._

The quick, determined thumps of her heart held him in this reality, kept him from following her down into the abyss of sleep. He held onto that, held onto the realm of the waking, with a feeling for which he had no expression. It felt like being the eye of the storm. Tranquility next to the raging storm of his thoughts.

At least she was back safe and sound. That knowledge, and her presence, created his little, serene shelter, while all around, thoughts about Sanchez, Fernando, fur trading, and the deals he himself made were shooting around. He let them be, not reaching out and examining them closer. Soon he would need to start making plans, would need to prepare for the worst. A direct confrontation with Sanchez seemed nearly inevitable now. But for the moment he was content to just lie here and listen.

_Thu-thump, thu-thump, thu-thump, thu-thump._

There was something about this rabbit that he understood on a deeper level than words and actions could reach. Something that his biology textbooks might have covered, but he never bothered to learn about lapins. His instincts, however, knew enough.

Judy Hopps was already a very open and earnest animal, but that was not why he’d trust her with his life. It was that instinctual understanding that might once have given his ancestors an edge in the hunt but now served him to gain a peace of mind that he’d never known to be possible, not when so close to another mammal.

And for some reason she slept better now, too, tossed around less, when he was close. It was probably because she had grown up in a crowded burrow where sleeping alone was a rarity, but if he, a fox, could fill this niche, then he gladly would.

Here and now, with his head cradled in her small arms, he felt something inside him relax. Like a muscle that had been taut for so long he had forgotten it even existed. Something uncurled inside him, slowly, ever so slowly unwound from the tight knot it had bound itself in, for the first time in… maybe ever.

_Thu-thump, thu-thump, thu-thump._

Dreams could not compete with this.


	8. Chapter 8

It was late at night and Judy was stuffed. She had decided they should go to Ori’s rooftop sushi bar, no matter how late it was. Nick hadn’t needed much convincing, despite it being on the other side of town. The food was just too damn good, and so was the atmosphere. The exotic smells that the wind brought down from the rising dunes in the north and the quiet oriental music still felt new and exciting to Judy, even after their fourth visit. It was the ideal place to leave the day behind.

“Have you heard about the precinct exchange program, Fluff?” Nick asked.

“I think I’ve read something on the noteboard,” she said. “Why do you ask? Want to transfer to Sahara Square for a few weeks now?”

“The night shift would be something to behold here.”

She chuckled. “Including a lunch break at this place, that’s what you’re thinking about.”

“Got it in one, Carrots.”

“I don’t think we can just pick all of our shifts like that, Nick. You’d have to deal with the day shifts as well, and you’d need more than a small fur trim to survive that,” she teased.

“Shed this luxurious coat? It would be a tragedy!” he said with mock outrage.

“It would,” she playfully confirmed. “Especially that fluffy tail.”

“You might be more devastated than I, Carrots. We can’t let that happen.”

“Such a gentlemammal!” She raised a paw to her forehead as if swooning.

Nick chuckled. “I’ll listen in how wanted those night shifts are in Precinct Three, but I think you’re right. Getting the day shift would kill both of us.”

“Sure.” She finished the rest of her rice wine and leaned back. Then she noticed Nick looking more pensive than was adequate for the late and relaxed evening. “What?” she asked.

“Hm? Oh, just remembered something,” he looked away, as if fixating himself on something far away. “This has been on my mind for a while now, I have to admit.”

“Now’s the time then,” she playfully coaxed.

“All right, all right. Remember when your siblings surprised us with a visit?”

“Sure.”

“You got really strange for a moment when they mentioned that two more of your siblings want to join the ZPD.”

“You remember that?” she asked, utterly surprised.

“It made me think, since you’re normally so upbeat about getting more small mammals to join. But you’ve never brought it up again, so I was left wondering,” he explained.

“Yeeeah, I guess I was putting it off. Thinking about it, I mean,” she said. “I knew I would have to deal with it, when I’d next go to visit my parents.”

“We don’t need to drag it up here and now.”

“No, it’s okay. I have to think it through sooner or later,” she said, idly playing with the empty glass in her hands. Or was it nervously? She put it down. “When they brought it up, I had a little flashback to all the close calls I’ve had over the last year and realized that this job looks more dangerous when you imagine others in it.”

“Especially others you know,” he suggested.

“Especially family. Imagine little Tony getting badly beaten up on the beat in a few years, and I think I know a little of how Mom and Dad must have felt, back when I graduated.”

She heard him take a deep breath. “But you can’t make their decisions for them. Just educate them about your experience.”

“There is that, yes. But that’s why I feel more responsible now.” She searched for the right words. “Mom and Dad had no experience about police work when they tried pressuring me to change my plans for the future, but I do now so it’s like my words carry a lot more weight.”

“You always do take on more responsibility than everybody else, Carrots,” he said, his voice having gone very soft, and it made her look up at last. “But don’t take it away from others. That wouldn’t be fair to them either.”

She nodded. It was true, of course, but there was that one big doubt. “It’s the three ferrets case,” she finally said. “That is still making my fur stand whenever I think about it.”

“But you got away okay, barely a scratch on you, right?”

“Yes. But I might have glossed over a few details of just how close it was,” she admitted and couldn’t suppress a small flinch. “I… guess I didn’t want to worry you, while you were focused on the academy.”

Nick opened his mouth and closed it again, and she felt like shrinking back under his suddenly piercing gaze. She shuddered a little, and wasn’t sure if it was the night air.

“What do you mean?” he asked after a tense moment.

“I didn’t even need to go to the hospital. But… that was really because I was lucky.” She recounted the events of the day, including Sheyla, the brick-throwing ferret, the fire bomb, and how she got nearly burned before she jumped away.

By the end of it, Nick’s gaze could only be described as broken. He looked straight ahead, not at her, but through her, like all life had suddenly left him.

“…Nick?”

He pinched the bridge between his eyes with a paw and mumbled: “I need a minute.”

Judy sank back in her chair, hugging herself. “Okay,” she said quitely. Every aspect of her wanted to keep talking, keep explaining, because surely he’d understand then. But something in his voice made her shut up instead.

  


Nick was feeling disoriented. As if he’d nearly been hit by a car, while still sitting in a rooftop restaurant. Something so out there that there was no way to anticipate the shock.

He had been so sure. He would have sworn, without hesitation, that he had been over that fear. But all of a sudden, it came crashing back, forming clumps in his gut, just like – what was it? – eight months ago, when he had forced himself over his reluctance to share some intel on three of the most dangerous mammals in this city.

And now it turned out that it had very nearly cost him the mammal he valued the most in his life.

And that in turn suddenly recontextualized her undercover work where she had nearly run into one of those ferrets again, bringing the threat from distant past right here into the present.

Not to mention that Judy was still very much herself. Throwing herself at every danger so that others didn’t have to was still one of the much joked about traits among their colleagues.

Nick had thought he was over this. They had a dangerous job, there was no getting around it. But suddenly he wanted nothing more than find a better way. Suddenly it only seemed like a matter of time, until one of those close calls would be a direct hit instead.

And then one of them would be alone again.

Over it? Laughable! How could he ever have been over it?

Despite the evening and his present company, he felt like the oppressive loneliness of the city that he had endured for years on end was back with a vengeance.

She was sitting but an arm’s reach away and a part of him wanted nothing more than to reach out and pull her into his arms and never let go-

But how could he do that to her? It might be him, not her, who was suddenly gone next week.

Nick didn’t know what to do anymore, but he’d come to realize it was better to not shut her out. “I- I thought I was over how dangerous the job could be, I really did. But I guess I just lied to myself, so I wouldn’t push you away.”

He heard a hitched breath. “Nick, this sounds like something you have been dragging around for a long time. Why did you never say something?”

“What is there to say, Judy?” he said, sounding tired. “We trust each other, we watch each other’s back, try to keep each other out of harm, but unless we both quit the force and become gardeners there’s little we can change. It’s not like we’re doing anything wrong.”

“You don’t-”

“No, I don’t want either of us to quit. We’re good where we are, we’re good at what we do. As I said, it would be foolish to change our lives now. It’s just I- I don’t know how to deal with this kind of danger. Now when somebody else is involved.” He looked away. “I guess you never had the problem, huh?”

“What do you mean?” She cocked her head. “Of course I worry about others. I just told you about my family and what it would mean to me if they joined the force as well.”

“Then how do you do it?” he asked. Pleaded, really. “How do you sleep at night?” He realized the moment he had spoken the words how silly the question sounded. Falling asleep together on the couch had become the norm for them rather than a rarity and he knew she had been a restless sleeper before. “Okay, bad example,” he conceded.

She cast him a small smile that could almost be defined as shy, if Judy Hopps would do shy. “I don’t know. I just take each day as it comes. As you said, we’re not doing anything wrong. Why worry too much about the distant future?”

Nick nodded. He knew she was right in a way, but his own experiences told him otherwise. He couldn’t help but brace for disaster and he didn’t want to take her down with him.

When he’d gotten to know her, she had seemed utterly reckless. Devoid of any thought for her own health and that opinion had held throughout most of his time at the academy. Had it changed now? Maybe a bit. And hopefully the thought of her siblings taking on the same dangerous job would be a reminder to her.

But he had to be sure, and he could not. Not yet.

He needed time. Right now there was little he could do, except maybe…

“In a few years,” he said, trying a small smile, “when your siblings are following your footsteps, they’ll come to this city with the same ideas about heroics and police work as you did, won’t they?”

“You mean expecting to chase robbers and take down mobsters every day? I’m sure they will. Cop dramas have been a hit in the burrow’s evening TV program for some time.”

“Then we’ll need to be there for them, when the time comes,” he offered. “And make sure they’re not blinded by the hero cop image you set.”

She beamed up at him. “Let’s do that.”

It would have to do for now.

  
###  
  


The hum of office equipment and quiet conversation was interrupted by ears slapping onto a desk. Nick turned around and saw his partner with her head resting on a case folder. The image instantly created a furrow between his brows.

Peering over her shoulder, close enough that he knew she could feel his whispers, he said: “What was in those emails? Eldritch horrors or awkward romantic correspondence?” He looked down and bingo, there was at least one corner of her mouth fighting to curl itself up. He scooted back with a smile on his face and made to finish his own paperwork. Judy had of course finished hers long ago and then went on to go through the emails she had pilfered on her ‘civilian aid mission.’

“They’re not half as informative as I’d hoped they’d be. Most of them are hard to discern without context, and the other half is just useless.”

“Gimme a second, Hopps,” he said over his shoulder and finished off the last form before turning back to her. “Okay, so what did you learn?”

She flipped back her tiny paper notebook. “There’s this one email where Toffra is telling someone she fears they have a mole.” She threw some air-quotes around the possibly speciest term. “Even puts in examples where they apparently anticipated their guard schedule.”

“That’s… a weird thing to do,” Nick mused. “It’s possible that is code for: here’s our actual guard schedule, I just don’t want it to look like I am a mole if somebody searches my email.”

“…wow, that is really paranoid.”

“If you are a double-agent, your level of paranoia directly dictate your chances of survival, Carrots.”

“Toffra? I can’t believe that. You should have heard them, Nick, she and Fern are totally more than just business partners. There’s no chance she’d betray him like that.”

Nick shrugged. “Maybe it’s more one-sided than you could see?”

She shook her head. “You weren’t there. Anyway, it also mentions somebody named Will in there, and that could be that ferret terrorist that I ran into. I pulled his file and he’s known as Will Dersil.”

“Mentions him how?”

“Just some vague mention that he would be helpful. They were really careful not to put anything concrete in there,” she sighed.

“That’s still disconcerting, and Bogo will ask to be updated on the case soon.”

“I was hoping we’d have a plan on our next steps lined up before we did that,” she said, foot thumping restlessly. “The next possible time for following up on that hint Fernando gave you is in four days, right?”

“Yes, but I don’t know if that should be our next target right away. I mean they meet there every week.”

“Nick, every day we waste is a chance for more mammals to get kidnapped. We can’t wait!”

“We could follow up on something else first,” he suggested. “Like confronting Fernando with those emails we got. I’d love to hear if he knows about them. And while I’m in there, I could have another look around, talk to some other mammals.”

“We can still do that afterwards, that option isn’t on a timer,” she said.

Now it was his turn to nervously tap on the desk. “I know. I know. But I’m still not positive on the plan here. Arresting a couple of mammals is fine, we can take them, but we need to get them out of there too. Cruisers can’t just drive up to the curb on those buildings. Which means we’re going to need backup, but that’s going to come with a lot of attention. And we don’t want that, remember? For one it makes them more likely to bolt, and also I don’t want to be seen there.”

“I think we can make this work,” she mused. “Like this: we arrest and secure them, then you sneak back and get backup, and I wait with them. That way, by the time the megafauna arrives, you are already clear of the area.”

He was already shaking his head. “And leave you alone in there? Not happening.”

“You know I can handle myself,” she bristled.

“There’s still a reason why we’re only allowed out with a partner. No, we’ll have to find another way. Steal away over the rooftops after backup arrived or something.”

“Never thought I’d have to sneak away like a thief while wearing the uniform.” He knew that concept didn’t sit right with her at all. But it couldn’t be helped and they both knew it. “Fine.”

It was better than nothing. Nick knew he still had to make backup plans for himself. If there was ever a need to directly deal with Sanchez, he would do much better with a plan and some leverage. But that would need time and talking to the right people first.

“And look, if that doesn’t work out,” she continued, “if they don’t have enough information for us to solve the case, we can still go to the commune again. Because that’s still a good idea, no matter what. If they do have some internal problem it’s better if they solve it themselves.”

“So we don’t put them more at risk, right. And if they survived that long, that guy must be doing something right at least. Even if I don’t trust the situation like you seem to.”

“We’ll see. Okay, let’s call that plan B.”

“Good enough to update Bogo then?”

She nodded, shoulders slumping. “I guess so. He won’t be happy. The fact alone that we sighted a known terrorist in there could be enough to warrant a raid on the warehouse.”

He hated to see those ears droop like that, so he summoned some more optimism and said: “Just write that a frontal assault is useless, surrounding the area is nigh impossible, so they can’t stop him from getting away, and raiding the building might put over fifty mammals at risk. That way, our other plans will seem a lot more practical.”

”That’s true. Okay then, let’s not keep him waiting.”

Without it being said, they both knew they were running out of time here. This investigation could not go on forever. Either Sanchez would get what he wanted or Bogo would shut down the investigation in favor of trying to hunt down the missing ferret.

Half an hour later they had filed all reports, updated Bogo, and were getting ready to leave.

As they were moving down to the entrance hall, Nick spotted one of the last faces he would have expected leaning against the front desk and chatting with the portly receptionist.

“Hey, Nick,” Clawhauser called. “Your friend here is a funny guy.”

A lot about that sentence was news to Nick, but he didn’t let it show. “Hey, Jan. Didn’t expect to see you today.”

Jan Dremings, wearing a finely cut suit and a lazy smile that mirrored Nick’s own, shrugged. “I was in the area and hoped to catch you at the end of your shift. Are you heading out now?”

Nick’s thoughts were racing. What was Dremings up to here? He worked for Sanchez, so was this to become a warning? No, he’d hardly come into the ZPD for that, except maybe to show that there was no place for Nick to be safe. But he held his smile and nodded. “We are.”

They walked out through the front doors. Judy must have taken notice of him being tense and silently got his attention to cast him a questioning look. Nick could only shrug. He gave her a smile with it, though, wanting to put her at ease before Dremings could catch on.

“So, just in the neighborhood, Jan?” Nick asked with a dash of irony once they were down the stairs.

“More or less, yes,” his voice had lost the goofy charm he had projected inside, but not its casualness. “I know how it must look like to you.”

“I sure hope you do, because otherwise your boss should invest in better medical benefits, ‘cause you might have gotten one too many knocks to the noggin.”

“Very funny, Wilde. But can we not talk about my boss right now, please?”

“Works for me,” Nick shrugged.

“I mean, I don’t even know why you left the outfit back then, and so does nobody else, which must be a first, all things considered…” He trailed off.

“If I told you, I’d put you in danger, and myself.”

“Fair, fair,” the ocelot waved it off. “It just caught me off-guard, since… well, never mind.”

They walked across the square in silence, Nick not wanting to give him an opening. Judy had other plans.

“You two have worked together in the past?” she asked innocently.

“We have,” Dremings supplied. “Though not for my current employer.”

“Sanchez,” Nick mouthed to her and her eyes got bigger.

“It was long ago,” Dremings went on, “even before you had connections to the mob, right?”

“Yeah, you were still a kit back then, working as a runner for some pushers if I remember right.”

Something like anger flickered across the ocelot’s face at the mention of it, but he quickly had himself under control again. “Not my best times, to be honest.”

Nick decided to press it, though. “You turned down a lot of jobs that I sent you. Ones that were less risky and better paying. Why might one do that?”

Dremings chuckled. “I guess I didn’t want your table scraps, Wilde. You know how essential it is to make your own name on the Fringe. Though I always thought you took it a bit too far.”

“Well, infamy has its upsides, too,” Nick said.

“But getting respect is never easy. I had to claw my way up, and that’s why I never understood how you’d leave a well-run outfit like Sanchez’.”

Nick scoffed. “Listen, Dremings, how long have you been with them now?”

“About four years I think?”

“Well, I think there’s still a lot you don’t know. Starting with the fact that things were different back then. You ever dabbled in fur trading again?” He eyed him carefully as he asked that.

Dremings looked repulsed. “No! We have our standards; no amount of money is worth being involved in slavery!”

“It wasn’t always like that,” Nick said. “The last boss had few qualms about it and I know there are still some mammals around from back then. Think about your colleagues some time.”

He looked pensive for a moment, but then shook his head. “You’re wrong, Wilde. I know everyone there, and I can’t imagine anyone capable of that. Maybe some of the grunts, but there’s a reason why they stay grunts.”

“Whatever you say. I thought you didn’t want to talk about your boss,” Nick said.

Dremings smirked. “Right, my bad.”

They spotted a free park bench and sat down.

Nick relented. “What did you want to talk about in the first place, Jan?”

“Nothing.”

Nick’s head snapped around. If he wasn’t here to talk, then-

“Nothing in particular,” Dremings added. “I just wanted to talk to you for a bit.”

“A good week ago you had that chance, if I remember correctly. And you didn’t exactly jump at it.”

“True,” Jan admitted. “And now I want to see if I had you pegged wrong. If that’s okay with the great Officer Wilde.”

Nick snorted. “I can’t stop you, kit. But I do have to wonder what brought this sudden change of heart about.”

“Thaler. I made a delivery to him and we got talking for a bit. He mentioned you, which in itself is curious if you know him.”

Nick was taken aback. “I thought he wouldn’t remember people if they brought him breakfast every day. Old wolf has only eyes for his work after all.”

“That hasn’t changed from what I can tell. But you helped him? And from what I pieced together after the fact, you two solved a case that was by normal standards dead and closed already.”

“I don’t know how you heard that, but yes, it was,” Judy piped in.

“I hear a lot,” Jan said with a charming smile.

“So what?” Nick asked. Maybe it came out a bit more forceful than he intended.

“So not everybody would do that. The officers I have seen so far couldn’t give a rat’s ass about a cold case, and even less use their personal time to solve it.”

Nick shrugged. “You couldn’t think I got into this gig for the money. C’mon, nobody is that naive.”

“You know what they say about foxes,” Jan said with a wink and stood up. “They always have an angle.” He waved goodbye and left.

“But what is yours?” Nick murmured, only loud enough for Judy to hear.

On the way home, Nick’s thoughts were in disarray. Dremings had always been a sore spot for him, one he didn’t want to look and pick at. But it seemed the young ocelot had not only done well for himself – despite working for Sanchez now – he also didn’t seem to have anymore qualms with the former hustler. Unless he was a really good actor, but Nick still had years of experience on him in that regard.

In short, he didn’t know what to make of it. Maybe he should pay for some info on him and look at what he was actually doing for Sanchez. Or should he just ask him?

  
###  
  


“I hate stakeouts!” Judy yelled into the beanbag chair into which she had just thrown herself. Nick, who’d come into the living room behind her, grunted in agreement.

It had been a highly frustrating couple of days. Instead of working on anything helping the Haymarket case, they’d been on rotating stakeouts for some financial crimes downtown. And not only that, but after three full shifts of it, there was still no progress to it. Still, Serkov, who led that investigation, was unrelentingly patient. Judy didn’t want to disagree with her on the job, but here, back in the apartment with Nick, she couldn’t help but scream it out at times.

Nick came back and plopped a cool juice bottle down next to her.

After a few deep gulps Judy had decided to not let the day end like this again. She needed something to unwind. They both did. “Say, Slick, I remember you owing me a show of tearing up the dance floor. How about we go out tonight after all this sitting around.”

His eyes went big and he looked like he wanted to say something sarcastic, but then he just smirked. “Oh, you’re about to get in over your head, Carrots. But it shall be done. Go find something nice to wear and I’ll find us a location.” He reached for his phone.

It certainly wasn’t the reaction she had expected. Was he about to hustle her? It nearly felt like it. But then she shook her head and decided to run with it. “Sure thing. But don’t expect me to wear something I can’t run in.”

“I know you, Carrots,” he assured her while scrolling through his phone contacts with a sly smile.

She went to her room and started looking through her clothes, piling things on her bed, while Nick was talking on his phone.

“…no, preds _and_ prey. …no, I don’t care where, as long as it’s accessible. …yes, nothing stuffy. …yeah, sounds cool. Thanks, buddy. I owe ya! See ya…”

Half an hour later they were out of the house but Nick still hadn’t told her where they were going. But he had declined when she’d asked if she should add a coat over her top and low-cut shirt, so it couldn’t be colder than Savanna Central.

They took the bus uptown, up to the heart of the city, beyond the skyscrapers and into the noblest residential area that Zootopia had to offer.

It would have been easy to feel out of place here, if not the the fox at her side, radiating quiet confidence. Some in her family had told her she’d feel more out of place in the company of a predator, that the stares would surely get to her… she had seen the looks, ranging from bewildered to disgusted. They were the only times when she realized that the relationship she had with Nick was considered unusual.

She never thought about it back when they had just started hanging out a few times a week after the Savage case, before he went to the academy. Then during his police training she made sure their contact didn’t get cut back, because that’s what friends did.

And afterwards they just seemed to naturally fall into spending more and more of their free time together and it never once made her wonder. Why _should_ she wonder that she could be just as affectionate with her best friend as she could be with other bunnies? It just felt like the most natural thing in the world, and the stares she sometimes got were only bewildering her.

Which was why she reasoned that her feeling out of place for some time now had to have a different reason.

They got off at a row of large villas and walked the rest of the way. Judy could already hear music and see lights reflected in some trees in one of the gardens.

“What is this?” she asked, having expected they’d go to a bar or similar nightlife venue.

“A party where anybody is welcome, as long as there is room.”

“In such a nice neighborhood?” she asked, looking around at the houses.

“They are in a different place every week. You simply need to know the right mammals to find it. And I know everybody.” He winked.

She sure was closer to believing him. They reached the garden gate, and Nick nodded to the large lion bouncer, who let them in without a question.

Inside was a large garden area filled with such a wide variety of mammals like Judy rarely saw in the city. There were squirrels dancing on tree branches, moose and lions mingling under them, a pack of wolves stood up on the first floor terrace and egged each other on, next to a herd of giggling gazelles, while inside were more lights and dancing, and Judy was just a bit overwhelmed at the sight of it all.

“Manny!” Nick suddenly cried out.

A moose spun around. “Well, if it isn’t Nick ruttin’ Wilde! Good to see you, ol’ bastard!”

“I thought this looked familiar! You’re the one hosting this party!” Nick said with a wide grin.

“You bet your sorry arse I am. Gonna introduce me to your friend, too?”

“Judy Hopps,” she quickly said, bouncing on her feet, as the peppy music got to her. “Thanks for having us!”

“Anytime,” the moose waved off. “Anybody’s welcome, especially Zootopia’s finest, even if I still don’t believe it in some cases,” he threw a comically suspicious glare at Nick that made Judy chuckle.

“Laugh it off, Manny. Now I’m even more likely to bust you, and you know it!” Nick grinned.

“No idea what you’re talking about, son. Now go and have fun, you two.” He nodded and turned back to the pig he was talking to before.

“Oh, this looks great, Nick!” she said, turning to him. “C’mon-”

“Contain yourself, Carrots. You may run on bunny energy, but I need a drink first.”

“Oh, alright!” she drawled.

They made their way to the bar inside where Nick paid for two cocktails. After finishing them, she pulled him off the stool and onto the nearby dance floor. They had to look for a corner where they weren’t the smallest animals by a large margin and found an area where some hares, sheep and foxes where moving to the beat.

They began dancing next to each other and to her surprise, Nick got a little bit more into it than at the Gazelle concert last month.

“Nice moves, Slick,” she shouted, while bouncing up to hip-check him again.

He gave her his trademark grin as if to say: Why would you ever expect less?

She didn’t care to find a retort to that, not when the music was good, and this was exactly what she needed right now. A few songs later it faded to background music and they had a minute to talk.

“You’ve been holding out on me,” she teased as they wandered towards the garden.

“You were just making assumptions again, Carrots,” he shot back.

She grinned. “Thanks, Nick.”

He gave her a strange look. “For what?”

She gestured around. “This. And being here with me. I know this isn’t usually how you unwind.”

“We both needed a reprive.” He leaned against the window, looking out.

They really did. Since the day the Haymarket case got dropped on them, little changes just seemed to pile up around them. First they moved in together, but that seemed – in retrospect – more a question of convenience than anything else, since their lives were already so entwined.

Suddenly there was a lot more free time that was spent cuddling on the couch after work, even if, at that point, it became clear to her that Nick had a boundary beyond which casual physical contact would make him uncomfortable.

The one or two times she had fallen asleep on the couch she woke wake up in her own room the next morning and heard him snoring in his own bed next door.

But she had pushed against that boundry, even while feeling a little bit guilty about it. And bit by bit he was getting used to it until they had reached the point were sleeping together on the couch wasn’t a rare occurrence anymore.

She thought everything would be great now – and that was when she noticed the next complication. Her implant wasn’t doing its job properly anymore.

Single and career rabbits were usually wearing implants in their arm to regulate hormone levels, making it easier to control their horniness during their day-to-day routines. And while those should generally last four to five years, hers was only a bit older than two years and already its effectiveness seemed to be fading, if the many cold showers she had to take these days were any indication.

It might be because her body was getting used to it, because that was one thing they had warned her about: the implant was set once upon insertion and then kept going at that rate, but changes in life and living situations could cause it to need readjustment.

Or it had to do with the musk she was exposed to on a daily basis now. Despire the well-aired apartment, Nick’s scent was pretty much everywhere, and maybe it was able to cross the species barrier and confuse her body.

Sleeping on the couch now probably didn’t help with that either, if she was honest with herself. Not that she’d even think about going back on that development. If the price was that she had a few more and longer showers than usual to take care of it, then she’d readily pay it.

“Hey, Carrots, you spacing out on me here?”

Only then did she realize that another song had started playing inside and mammals were …tangoing to it? “I don’t know this one,” she had to admit.

“Don’t worry about it, it’s a very simple one,” he said, leading her back inside. “Just watch for a minute. See those two lionesses over there? They know how it’s done!”

She tried to understand the steps, twists and dips despite never having seen a tango like this before (it was not part of the usual Bunnyburrow barn dance repertoire) but before long her enthusiasm won out again and she pulled Nick with her onto the dance floor. He wanted to show her up? Not without a fight, she decided.

To be honest, he totally showed her up, moving as gracefully as the lionesses, while she had a hard time keeping up with the steps. Not even their size difference made a problem for him, which made her wonder.

“Where did an old pawpsicle hustler learn to tango anyway?” she asked.

“The Bigs used me as a liaison in business deals with other small-to-medium-height animals,” he explained and dipped her backwards at the same time. “You don’t want to send a polar bear to schmooze with arctic foxes and wolves.”

“That sounds almost glamorous,” she teased.

His shrug was only visible on his face. Then she stumbled again and he had to catch her.

“You’re getting there, Carrots,” he encouraged her. “Just lean into it, don’t try to skip steps.”

“I’m trying, okay?”

“I know. You’re not the only one still learning new steps.”

He could have fooled her, she thought, but kept it to herself. But if Nick was good at anything, it was making himself look competent, even in the situations where he really wasn’t. And even though she knew it, it always made her feel safe. Or maybe that were his strong paws right now that expertly guided her through the right steps.

It also had a hand in her body getting a bit too excited right now. She’d really have to get that implant replaced as soon as possible, because despite everything she’d dragged him into so far, she did not believe that Nick would be interested in adding certain benefits to their friendship.

No, as much as she’d played out that fantasy in the privacy of her own mind, her research supported the claim that foxes took a less of a casual approach to sex than rabbits did. That was in general of course, but since it had taken him so long to warm up to even sleeping close together, she had no reason to suspect otherwise.

And then there was simply the fear of screwing everything up that they had, just because she couldn’t keep it in her pants. Maybe she could push him into a carefree night of passion with no strings attached, but what about the next day? The next week? No, that seemed way too easy to screw up.

She’d have to keep to doing her own ‘research’ when he was out which usually ended in the shower where scents were washed away quickly. Just because she temporarily wanted to screw his brains out didn’t mean she wanted to ruin things between them. They both had a lot on their minds already. No reason to add this.

S o when they finally went home, paw in paw, Judy vowed to make an appointment with her doctor  the  next week.

  
###  
  


It was one hour to midnight, one hour until the time of meeting with which Fernando had provided them. The low street activity of mammals coming home and going out had all but died down in the Haymarket. Nobody wanted to be out in the streets at this time of night.

One part of Nick wanted to follow suit, wanted to avoid sticking out from the locals, while another reminded him how easy it was to move about unseen now. Which was true, the lamps being few and far between and the high buildings blocking out most of the moonlight, but even then you could never be sure from which windows someone with night vision might be watching the narrow streets. In addition to that, the district was shrouded in a slight haze at this time of night, which made the visibility unpredictable at best.

They’d come early to scout out the building that was described by Fernando as the meeting place. “Boarded shut,” Nick whispered as soon as they got in line of sight of the entrance. He held up a hand to make his partner hold position and snuck over to the door to confirm it, but the result remained the same. This door hadn’t been used in some time. He moved back to Judy.

“There may be another entrance on the back side of the building,” Judy whispered, adjusting the net launcher on her back. They came with as much gear as they could carry, since the cruiser (and potential backup) was several minutes on foot away.

“Or the roof,” Nick agreed. “Let’s hurry.”

There was an archway that led into the small concrete backyard of this cluster of buildings. They found a door, large-sized, as the front door, but it was locked, and Nick wasn’t sure if the mammals they were waiting for had a key or would take another entrance like a window. And they couldn’t watch all three open sides of the building, not without splitting up, and that was not something he would contemplate.

“Let’s check the rooftops then,” Judy said. “How about from over there.” She pointed at the opposite building, which had three stories as well.

Nick couldn’t see a ladder, only several rain pipes. “You brought your climbing gear this time?”

“Uh, no,” she facepalmed.

Nick groaned. “I’ll carry the rifles first, then come back down for you.”

So they did and soon Nick was sitting on the roof, panting heavily, while Judy scouted the area.

“There’s a little space between those vents and the access door. We’ll have a good view of the other building without being seen,” she said as she came back and pulled him to his feet.

Nick had to agree. It was a bit back from the ledge, so they couldn’t see the backyard door, but they could see the roof of their target building and its only door. Not perfect, but they could rely on sound to tell if the door below was used.

They settled in, sitting next to each other, and waited.

“And now for the boring part,” Judy sighed and leaned against his drawn-up knees.

“Sorry I didn’t bring any cards,” he jabbed. “I’ll pack them instead of the taser next time.”

“You might be more effective with them than with the taser,” she teased. “Dazzling your victims with slick card tricks instead.”

He chuckled. “You saying you’re a better shot than me, Hopps? ‘Cause then we got a date at the firing range tomorrow.”

“You’re on, Wilde,” she laughed.

Now that he had time to think again, another knot formed in his stomach. He couldn’t ignore the fact that they were definitely in Sanchez territory and that however well their stakeout went, there was still the other danger of being spotted and recognized by his lookouts. Mulling that over, the hour until midnight passed slowly for him.

Then midnight came and went without notice. Nick had already gone through all possible motivations that Fernando could have to give them a wrong hint, but nothing made sense. If somebody had wanted to ambush them, they’d have done that already, and otherwise there was nobody to profit in depriving them from some sleep, which seemed like the only downside to being here now.

A door creaked and slammed shut. Only then did Nick notice that Judy had stood up and was moving towards the edge. He quickly joined her, but the backyard was empty again.

She flashed her paws at him twice, indicating that they should wait for half a minute, to which Nick nodded. No further sound came and nothing else moved so they slid down the drain as quietly as possible and moved towards the backyard door.

Nick unlocked his stunner with one hand and slowly pushed the door open a bit with the other before looking at his partner expectantly. She went up to the door and put an ear into the small opening to listen through. When she pulled it back, she mimicked footsteps and held up three, then five fingers.

Nick grimaced; three to five mammals was a lot. They needed to keep the element of surprise at all costs, especially since they didn’t want them fleeing either. Before his thoughts could go further into planning, Judy slowly pushed the door open and he had to concentrate on what was ahead.

The stairwell was old and wooden, judging from the sounds of heavy footsteps and creaking coming from above. There were grunts and coughs as well, hinting that something heavy was being carried. A kidnapped mammal maybe?

Judy went ahead, peering down the hallway before moving up the stairs. Her silent rabbit feet did a good job of making no noise, but Nick was careful and kept a few feet behind her and to the edge of the stairs, where they’d be least likely to make sounds.

The building seemed abandoned, walls being torn out halfway or having large holes in them. Nobody would want to really live here and the building was probably condemned. But the Haymarket being as inaccessible as it was, reaching it with proper building tools was nigh impossible, which meant any renovation had to be done all by hand and was ten times as expensive. Which would explain why the building was standing empty for a longer period of time, and yet Nick couldn’t quite feel at ease with this explanation. He shook off the thought and concentrated on the footsteps again.

Judy stopped at the edge of the next stairway and he heard that some voices were directly above them now. Then another door shut and they became quiet again. Slowly they made their way up, now at the heart of the three-story building. A well-chosen spot to be isolated and unseen, Nick realized.

Then Judy turned back to him, pointed at her eyes, then to him, then forwards. Oh, of course. She couldn’t see well in the dark, and with the door shutting, the stairwell had gone dark again. He nodded and took point, leading her up the stairs, which thankfully were still solid. They even looked repaired in some places.

There was no guard in front of the door. Nick was thankful for this lucky break. Whoever they were, they were not very concerned about being followed.

Judy joined him at the door, the only one under which a soft glow of light shone through. She kneeled and put her ear against the crack, then stood up after a moment and shrugged. There was nobody talking right now, that much Nick could tell on his own, only some other sounds of wood scraping on wood was coming through.

He took a deep breath and held up three fingers. Two fingers. One.

Judy jumped and kicked the large door with all the power her hind legs had. It came clear of its hinges and burst inward, and Judy was yelling before the dust had settled. “ZPD! Freeze!”

Nick, his stunner in hand, instantly analyzed the scene before him, which contained two warthogs, one moose, and two tigers in suits.

This wasn’t some random building, this was one of Sanchez’ well-guarded smuggling hideouts.

These weren’t some higher level thugs, they had just stumbled into one of Sanchez’ smuggling operations.

They had been set up.

He yanked Judy back into the corridor just as the shooting started, the tigers being the first ones to react and draw their dart guns. Judy and Nick rolled over each other but he came to his feet quick and drew the rabbit after him towards the next flight of stairs. Thankfully the darts must have given her the same idea that this was not the time to stand and fight.

He rounded the next corner and saw the roof access door, while large paws thumped behind them. If that door was closed, they were caught for sure, but it beat the chances of jumping the nearest window, he thought. So he barreled up there and against the door – and it opened. He stumbled and would have fallen had Judy not overtaken him and dragged him upright again while sprinting away from the door towards the next roof.

He took out his radio. “Dispatch, this is Wilde and Hopps at Haymarket one seventy five, we have shots fired and need backup! Retreating west!”

A short crackle of static, then: “Copy that, backup is en route, but ETA is twelve minutes to your location.”

Nick nearly dropped the useless radio. But he’d known that there was no way that backup would reach them in time. They’d either escape themselves or not. He refused to think about what would happen if they got caught.

He followed Judy’s jump down to the next roof, where they hid behind some chimneys.

She held up a hand and listened, rotating her ears back and forth. There seemed to be no pursuit, which almost made him laugh hysterically.

“Shit,” he panted instead.

“They’re not following us.”

“No. They’ll watch the roof while they get their wares out of there. This is one of Sanchez’ smuggling hideouts.”

“Shit,” she echoed.

“We’ve been set up. By Fernando.” Nick shook his head in disgust. That damned oryx! Maybe he should warn Finnick as well, but that thought was immediately burrowed again by their own pressing concerns.

“Are you sure about that, Nick?” she whispered. “Couldn’t he himself have been misled?”

“No. Very few people know about these hideouts,” Nick said. “I can’t even imagine how he got a hold of that info himself.”

“He- he can’t know about your past with Sanchez, right?”

“Only if Finnick told him, and I highly doubt that,” he said. “Finnick can’t be coerced.”

“So he wanted us to hinder Sanchez, draw away his attention maybe,” she mused.

“Doesn’t matter, Carrots. You can follow up on that, find and arrest him if you want, but I only have one way forward now,” he said. “I need to go and negotiate with Sanchez, as soon as possible.”

“What? Just like that?”

He shook his head, listened again for pursuit and then slumped against the chimney wall. “I wish I had time to plan. These tigers will report us to him, and there’s little hope that they wouldn’t recognize the only fox cop. I’ll take a personal day tomorrow.”

“You better not think of going in alone!” she said, shaking his shoulder.

“Only way, Hopps. Only way I can get in and out alive is by being alone and unarmed. It’ll be just like old times.”

“Nick, even I think this might be a bit rash!” she begged.

“No time,” he reiterated. “If I give Sanchez time to come up with his own story of what’s going on, things are only going to get worse. He may not send hit-mammals after me right then, but a warning would be dangerous enough.” Especially for you, he bit off.

“Rotten turnips, Nick. Is there no way for me to help?”

“There is. I’ll need a distraction to get in.”

“So you know where he is.”

“Always have.”

  


###  
  


Fernando left the building and joined up with Dallas, who had agreed to accompany him as muscle.

“How’d it go, boss?” Dallas quietly asked when they were on their way back.

Fernando smirked, more to himself than anyone else. The old tiger didn’t need to be explained to that Fernando wasn’t his boss, he was just calling him that to get a rise out of him.

“Smoothly. Simbers is just your typical prey, never evolved beyond his innate fears. Insisting on a one-on-one meeting gave me all the leverage I needed. He didn’t even realize the advantage I had once he had been separated from his perceived herd.”

“Then I take it this gang won’t bother us anymore?”

“Oh, more than that,” Fernando said with a chuckle. “They’ll be actively supporting us now. Not openly, of course, but they’ll run interference against other muscle sent our way.”

Dallas gave a surprised huff. “Not bad, boss.”

Fernando glanced over to his guard. This time there had been no sarcasm behind the title. “As I said, it was too easy. He may have been on eye level in that room, but in the negotiations, he was basically cowering.”

They made their way through the small, dark alleys back north, in the rough direction of their shelter. Fernando’s mind wandered from gang politics to the larger picture of prey in the city. A year ago, the sheep Bellwether had tried to use fear against the population to secure her rule. Would that put him on one level with her, using fear against individuals? No, he decided. He would not stoop to that level. Mass hysteria and panic could overcome everyone. He always gave them the chance to prove themselves better. It was their own fault then, if they never did.

Going around intimidating weak-willed gang members may have been the least favorite part of his job, even if he was good at it. No, he had to remind himself that this was for a better future, not just for him, but for the whole commune. One day they would be able to leave, but wouldn’t want to, because their friends, their family, were all right here. On that day they’d be a real commune, not just co-housing out of necessity. But to reach that point he needed a lot more time.

Sirens in the east made him look up. Oh, right, it was that date that he had given to Wilde. If they managed to call for backup, that must have meant they weren’t instantly overpowered by Sanchez’ goons, as he had suspected. It brought a small smile to his lips. Those two poster children of the ZPD might be more than just good marketing material.

“Let’s move,” he said to Dallas and quickened his steps.

He thought back to the first surveillance footage he had seen of the duo, back when they’d first sniffed around the shelter. Wilde had seemed a bit protective of his partner, which was to be expected, but it wasn’t just in the physical sense. It hinted at a bond between them that went beyond a working relationship. And the rabbit herself had been surprisingly fearless, staring down the intimidating-looking Tenhouser like that, but he wondered if she’d have been as daring without the fox at her back.

In fact, she did remind him of this other bunny that had appeared a few days ago in the shelter. She, too, had been not as skittish as he had expected. Meek, yes, but without the small, involuntary body language that prey often emitted in the presence of strangers. Could she be related to Hopps? No, then she surely would have bunked with her instead of coming here.

Those rabbits could be a surprise at times, but that was probably because he had been in contact with very few so far, never having ventured south to the Tri-Burrows himself.

Dallas stopped him with a paw and turned around, his ears swiveling around wildly. Fernando held his breath and listened too, but couldn’t hear anything new.

Dallas could. “Run,” he said with a growl and turned back.

Fernando glanced back and saw three figures appear, maybe thirty meters behind them. They didn’t seem wide enough for tigers or something larger so Dallas should be able to deal with them – if he didn’t have to look after Fernando himself. So he did as he was told and ran.

He hadn’t reached the next intersection when snarls and growls erupted behind him. Fernando glanced back over his shoulder, only to be tackled to the ground himself. He fell hard and his head hit the cobblestone, leaving him dazed. The next thing he knew, his left arm was painfully twisted behind his back and his head was pressed firmly onto the ground by an attacker sitting on his back.

“Got him,” a voice growled. “Go help the-”

“Watch-”

Stomping footsteps and a loud thud, and suddenly the weight on his back was gone. Fernando turned his head, which happened somewhat sluggishly.

He recognized the form of a rhino a few steps away from him. Also three wildebeests, one of which was crumbled against a wall, one who was taking steps back from the rhino, and one who was swinging a knife at- Toffra?

The badger deftly dodged a knife cut from the longer arm and rushed in, and the wildebeest collapsed in a cackle of electricity. She turned around and rushed over to Fernando. “Can you walk?”

“I guess,” Fernando honestly answered. It didn’t seem to be the answer she was looking for, since she didn’t look happy. So he tried pulling himself up. Another set of hands grabbed him around the shoulders and helped him.

“C’mon, we need to get out of here,” she hissed. “Tenhouser can deal with the rest.”

“What are you doing here?” Fernando asked groggily, putting his feet under him again.

“Later, Fern,” she said, dragging him onward. “There’ve been sirens already and we do not want to be caught out here.”

He still felt a bit wobbly, and maybe that was why he couldn’t figure out how they knew to look for him out here. But that could wait until later after all. They trotted down the last two streets, back to the shelter.


	9. Chapter 9

Nick checked the countdown on his phone again, not trusting his sense of time. Three minutes until the distraction started. He’d probably hear it anyway, wouldn’t he? Deep breaths. This wasn’t anything new for him, not like the academy or getting up early for the first shift. This was just hustling. He still had that, right? The mark was just a tad more important than usual, just a crime boss.

Who was already wary of him. But he wouldn’t expect him barging in. Nick knew what he had to do, he’d planned it all out, every conversation branch, and he’d be completely in his element.

Who was he kidding, he was woefully unprepared for this encounter and he knew it. He had no fresh intel on his mark whatsoever, no bargaining chips, and no escape plan but to leg it.

“Hey,” spoke a soft voice beside him.

“Carrots!” he nearly jumped. “What are you doing here?”

“Don’t worry, Nick, the distraction will start just fine in,” she peeked at her phone, “two minutes.”

He groaned. This was not according to plan! He knew why she’d come, but regardless he asked: “Then why are you here? If anybody saw you with me right now, it’d all be over.”

“Hey, I can be sneaky, Slick,” she defended herself. “And…” She knew that he knew. “I’d still rather have your back in there.”

He sighed, put his paws on her shoulders and turned her around to fully face him. “I need to go alone. You know this. Going in alone and unarmed is the only way that Sanchez will see me as a negotiator and let me leave afterwards.”

“So you seem to think,” she rebutted, face scrounged with worry.

They stared at each other in silence for a few breaths, Nick’s heart growing heavy. Would she ever trust-

“Fine,” she said, then surprising him even further by pulling him down by the tie and touching his nose to hers. “Then go get him, Wilde.” She let him go and turned to leave. “I’ll wait at rendezvous point alpha.”

‘The dumpster,’ was what the snarky part of his brain wanted to say right then, making fun again of the ridiculous detail with which she had planned this mission for him. But the rest of his brain was too stunned to react for a few seconds, and by the time he stood up straight again she was already gone, quick and silent, just as she had appeared.

Wiping the sudden smile from his face, he turned towards the fence again, drawing himself up straight this time. Behind it was the hideout of one the most dangerous mammals in all of Zootopia. But Sanchez wouldn’t know what hit him today.

A plume of smoke started rising from the other end of the compound. Nick waited in the shadow of the transformer until the five goons on this side of the building were running towards it, then climbed the fence. He made it to the other side of the courtyard without anyone shouting at him and quickly climbed to the building’s roof using the rain pipe.

The roof wasn’t fully flat so he couldn’t really hide up here and take a breather. Crouching low and trying not to make a noise to anyone inside the building, he moved left, away from the distraction, to the opposite end of the building, to the balcony of Sanchez’ office.

Nick put his head over the corner and tried to peek inside, but the windows started so low that he couldn’t see anything. It would have been nice to see if Sanchez was there in advance, and Nick hoped he was alone right now, but he couldn’t check. He had to take that step blindly.

Nick jumped down onto the balcony, hitting the floor hard and loud.

Straightening himself, he turned his head just enough to look inside. Sanchez was inside, but dammit, he wasn’t alone. This was the first crucial moment for Nick and he had no time to decide if he should stick to the original plan or incorporate the visitor.

He sized up the two tigers in the room. Sanchez wasn’t sitting at his desk, he was leaning against it from the front, indicating that he had been pacing. The other tiger was standing near the entrance and wore similar business attire to Sanchez. He looked like a goon to Nick, even if his posture hid most of it, so Nick ran with it, trusting that Sanchez would send him away. If he was wrong… well, he would know soon enough.

Standing up fully, Nick caught Sanchez’ eyes for a moment, then deliberately turned away from him and leaned against the balcony railing, placing absolute trust in the notion that Sanchez would come out to him, would meet him as more of an equal than a lowly petitioner.

Nick wanted to cringe, wanted to flex his shoulder muscles for an impact that might come any second, but he kept in control. Seconds seemed to crawl by but he kept his casual stance and bored face in place and then, finally, the door slid open.

“Wilde,” Sanchez sighed. “I should have known.” He leaned on the balcony railing that was the right size for him, a tiger in his prime, towering at more than twice Nick’s height.

“Oh you wound me, my friend. The dumpster fire? That wasn’t me,” Nick joked, skirting around the lie. So far, everything was according to plan, and he inwardly relaxed a little.

“Here to reminisce about old times then?” the tiger asked.

Nick dutifully chuckled as if Sanchez had just made a little inside joke. “Oh, you know me, I’m a complete sap for the good ol’ times. And what better way to relive them than with the mammal who saved my butt so many times back then.”

“Cut the crap, Wilde,” Sanchez huffed with certain annoyance.

“Well, I’m also here with news, if you want to stay in the present. Which one do you want to hear first? The good one or the bad one?”

Without a word, Sanchez turned around, stepped back inside and slid the door closed behind him, leaving Nick alone on the balcony.

Not according to plan at all. But rolling with it was an essential skill for every good con artist, and Nick was one of the best. But he was starting to hope that was still enough, as he jumped to grab the handle of the door and had to stem his feet against the railing to pull it open. He didn’t bother to try and close it behind him.

“You really must think I learned nothing from you back then, Nick,” Sanchez said, sitting behind his desk again.

“Ah, that’s the hustler’s curse, buddy,” Nick retorted. “It’s just really hard to get taken seriously. I won’t hold it against you.”

Now Sanchez glowered at him. “You really think you can hide how desperate you must be to come to me? Stop insulting me, please.”

Nick sighed, looking dejected. He really was just rolling with it now. “All right, Sanchez, all right. We can’t escape our own hides, can we? Doesn’t mean it was meant as an insult.”

“You of all people should know, I suppose,” the tiger cryptically said.

Another tiger came in, maybe the same goon as before, and Sanchez gave him a hand sign. The muscle stepped forward and drew Nick up in the chair to pat him down. Nick had seen this coming and held up his phone demonstratively, then unplugged the battery and put phone and battery back into separate pockets.

The goon waited for a sign from Sanchez, then withdrew as the smuggler nodded. Nick exhaled softly. It wasn’t the best start to negotiations, but at least they had started.

“I really don’t know why I should still put up with you,” Sanchez said. “Maybe I should have had you removed years ago. I hope you’re grateful for that.”

Nick huffed, outwardly in show and inwardly for different reasons. He had had some doubts before but Sanchez really wasn’t one for subtlety. Now it was time to stop getting pushed around. “You know exactly why, buddy,” Nick answered with a measured amount of venom in his voice. “I’ve got enough evidence to crumble your little empire over your head. And if I die, that evidence is going to find its way into the right hands, you can bet on that.”

“That evidence must be six years old now,” Sanchez said with a smirk. “Do you really think this hasn’t been enough time to distance myself enough from it so it wouldn’t stick? I’ve had time to prepare, too.”

“Who said I had to stick to the facts? The evidence is mostly to create credibility for all the other claims I’ve made in those letters. Many of them true, but I might have… enhanced a few things for better impact,” Nick smirked.

“Clever,” Sanchez admitted easily. “I won’t know if it’s enough till I try. But even then, do you really think I couldn’t escape and rebuild somewhere else?” He leaned forward threateningly. “That’s more than you could in that situation.”

Nick didn’t back down. “Maybe you could, but there’s something else you shouldn’t forget. I no longer work alone. So no matter how far you flee from Zootopia, be ready to look back over your shoulder, because you _will_ be hunted down.”

“By the ZPD?”

“Oh, they’ll be but a nuisance to you, I know that.”

Sanchez leaned back and crossed his arms, saying nothing for several seconds. “It seems the lines are drawn.”

“So they still are,” Nick agreed.

“I think I see now why you’ve started working for the other team instead.”

“Oh, it does come with a few perks, I’ll admit that. Good healthcare for one.”

“And they sent you here.” It wasn’t a question.

Another crucial point that Nick had identified in advance. And even though he had mapped out all reasonable answers, choosing the right one based on the current mood of the conversation was something he couldn’t do in advance. “You know how bad it must be if the ZPD opens a case for the Haymarket? I don’t think that has happened in the last decade. Something really must have gotten screwed up here. Now, I don’t really care who or what, I just need it to stop and then I can close this damn case and move on. How’s that sound?” That was probably the most blatant lie he dared to try today.

“We’ll need to see what it’s worth to you then,” Sanchez said, now all business. “But before we begin with that, there’s still some other debt you seem to have accrued.”

“What do you mean?” Oh no.

“You know exactly what the fuck I mean, Wilde,” Sanchez spat. “The deal was that you leave my business alone and I let you live! And now you’re caught breaking into my hideout during an op, distracting my men and costing me a good shipment!”

Nick faked trying to find the words, while he waited for Sanchez to take a few breaths before he answered. “I know how this looks, but you should realize I couldn’t possibly have known there was a hideout there from six-year-old knowledge.”

“I’m not going to believe you were there on accident at the right time. And you always knew more than you should, so I don’t care how you’ve gotten to know about it. One more time, Wilde, and you better start running.”

“Understood,” Nick said. “But maybe you should care about how I got to be at the wrong time in the wrong place.”

Sanchez leaned back and said nothing, not giving him an opening.

Without blinking, Nick said: “Y’know, it’s good you brought up this mess, ‘cause I really need to put the record straight. And this should be a mutual beneficial arrangement, ‘cause I don’t like being set up, and you probably would like to plug the hole in your outfit.

“What I’m saying is I’ve been misled about what I would find in that house and if you would take care of that… annoyance, then I’ll be happy to look the other way.” It was gutsy, and Nick had to put the right amount of disgust in his voice at mentioning Fernando, because Sanchez needed a good reason to believe that Nick would be pissed off enough to let him plug the hole as he saw fit. Sanchez did know, after all, that Nick held onto his morals – most of the time.

“Maybe I will. No promises until I know who it is.”

“Yeah, about that,” Nick begun, grinning as if embarrassed. “You know that little commune at the northern edge of the Haymarket?”

Sanchez only raised an eyebrow, because of course he knew.

“There’s this dude, I never really caught his name, but he doesn’t seem to have the highest opinion of you. Any idea why that is?”

The tiger chuckled at that. “Unspecific as that is, let me level with you. Fernando Hermanes was in my employ. It was me who put him in his current position, but he opted to break our deal.”

“Aaand you haven’t removed him why exactly?” In the back of his mind Nick’s thoughts raced. What would be the best approach to learn more about this deal?

“You know me, Wilde, I don’t do scorched earth policy except as a last resort. I was hoping to salvage the project, but that is looking to be unlikely now,” he said with a rumble in his voice that gave Nick chills.

“Gotcha. And then I’m guessing those salvage attempts were essentially why we were called in. So if that mammal gets removed, everything gets back to normal.”

“Essentially,” Sanchez parroted his tone.

“All right, I think there could be some arrangement,” Nick said, skirting really close to an outright lie now. There was no way he’d scoop to doing Sanchez’ dirty work again. “But first I need to know what makes this little community so important.”

The tiger laughed. Outright laughed out loud. “So he didn’t even tell you? You’re really losing your touch, Wilde.”

“Let’s say I’m not trusting him so far right now, after he set us up. Let’s hear your side of the story.”

Sanchez stood up and walked over to a window, one that was much too high for Nick to see out of so he stayed where he was.

“Have you forgotten how it was back then, Nick? The struggle of keeping this outfit together, making them work together after I took over? You stayed long enough to remember that, didn’t you?”

“I did,” Nick confirmed. It was hard removing everyone still loyal to the old boss and finding enough competent replacements at the same time.

“But I did it. I re-forged this lowly band of smugglers and fur-traders,” he spat out the last word, “into a well-oiled crime family. They watch each other’s backs now, instead of trying to climb over each other. We’re doing better than ever, but new, competent mammals are always hard to come by.

“It’s an age-old wisdom in any type of organization,” he continued, “the ability to cherry-pick the right mammals for the right job cannot be valued high enough. Finding people who are grateful for a chance, have little regard for the law and normal society, and can be more than common thugs…”

Nick knew where he was going with this. “…are best found in a Fringe commune.”

“And then that bastard stopped me from recruiting there. As if he had more to offer!” Nick didn’t need to see the snarl on the tiger’s face.

“I see why you’re pissed then. And you don’t want to make him into a martyr either, right? Well, how about-”

“Shut it, Wilde,” Sanchez growled. Nick was so surprised he complied. “You’re way too full of yourself. The project is closed now. And you have nothing to bargain with either way, I know as much now. So get out of my sight.”

Nick was too stunned to even move, the full depth of how he had underestimated his opponent now catching up to him. Sanchez had hustled him! He knew all along that there would be no need for negotiations and the unsubtle opening had been his smoke screen. The fact that Nick had gotten what he came to find out was pure luck, while the tiger had played him good. “No. Not scorched earth…”

“I’m afraid you’ll be too late to catch the light show.”

Without another comment, Nick was out on the balcony and jumped down into the courtyard. He turned back to the fence where he’d gotten in but before he could dash off a hand grabbed his arm and held him back.

Nick twisted around, dropping into a low stance to counter-attack whoever had stopped him, but the mammal in front of him wasn’t standing ready to strike him. It was Dremings.

The ocelot quickly put a finger over his own mouth and rolled his eyes upwards towards the balcony before releasing him. “It’s that badger, Toffra,” he whispered. “She was our contact inside the commune. The order already went out, but maybe you can still stop her before it’s too late.”

Nick gave him a thankful nod and sprinted out of the compound.

  
###  
  


A call on her personal phone tore Judy from her thoughts. She took her feet down from the cruiser’s dashboard and picked it up. It was an unknown number.

“This is Judy Hopps.”

“Judy, finally,” Nick panted. “I need some backup here. And a bomb squad.”

“WHAT?” she yelled. “Where are you, Nick?”

“Nearly at the commune. C’mon, Judy, make the call and stay on the line with me, please.”

“Nick, what is going on? You know what happens if we call backup there.”

“I know, Judy, but Sanchez just told me that he gave up and is going to eradicate all loose ends, and right now I don’t see smoke yet. So I’m going to check it out myself. But I need you on the line to steer me through it, tell me where everything is.”

“You’re already there?! Why didn’t you come to me first?”

“Sorry, phone didn’t start again. Had to steal a new one. I’ll explain later, dammit, but I need you now.”

“Hold on, Nick,” she said and started the cruiser with one hand. “I’ll put the phone down while I call Precinct One, okay?”

“I’ll be at the warehouse in a minute,” he said.

She put the phone on the seat and picked up the radio while steering the cruiser out of the parking spot. She told Clawhauser where she needed the bomb squad and then picked up her phone again.

“They’re on their way, Nick, but ETA is at least thirty minutes.”

“Hopefully that’ll be enough. I’ll just have a look, though. Maybe we can give the all-clear before they arrive and don’t need to risk the commune.”

“Nick…” Judy was torn between helping the commune and her friends, and seeing Nick run into a building that might house an explosive. In the end, her ideals won out, but she would make sure to get to him as quickly as possible. “I’m on my way.”

“Glad to hear it. Now, what’s the best entrance for me?”

“The back entrance is usually guarded, and I don’t think you have time to talk your way past the rhino.”

“Not a rhino again,” he panted under his breath.

“There are holes in the roof, but I don’t know how you can get up there, or if you’re good at navigating hammocks ten meters above ground.”

“Any better options?”

“Where I got out, maybe. West side, a row of windows, but two meters above ground. You can find a crate or some dumpster, but people might see you.”

“Judy, I can’t jump like a rabbit!”

“Well, I don’t have a better option, okay?” she shot back, her annoyance flaring up under the tension.

“I’ll use my intuition then. Where should I look inside? Is there a cellar?”

“No, but they dug some holes below ground for cool storage. It’s-” she stopped when she heard noise coming through the line. “Nick?”

“Still here.”

“What was that?”

“The rhino. He let me in,” Nick wheezed.

She shook off her bafflement. “Hug the left wall and follow the corridor at the end. I- no!” She hit the brakes.

“What?” The sound of a door slamming.

“Traffic! No, not now!” She switched on lights and siren, but the streets down here were still too small for the other cars to make room. “There must be some accident ahead or something. I’ll need to find a way around.”

“I’m going in. Oh, crowded place.” For a few moments she only heard his breathing. “This ferret, what did he look like again? ‘Cause I’ve seen several already.”

Judy’s stomach dropped. Of course that ferret would be the obvious candidate to setup explosives for Sanchez. She racked her brain for a detailed description. “Camo hoodie, torn ear, uh, the left one, and some crooked teeth.”

“Thanks. Oh, and Dremings just told me their contact was the badger. Ah, I see a hole in the ground.”

Toffra was working for Sanchez after all? It still came as a shock to her. “Stay sharp, Nick.”

“There’s light,” he whispered. “I’ll be silent for a minute.”

Judy couldn’t help but press the phone closer to her ear, as if it would help her hear better, the tension almost making her forget to drive as the traffic jam moved forward.

Some more clattering and her partner grunting. “That’s one ferret down,” she heard his voice, but silent. He wasn’t speaking into the phone yet. “And, whoa, that is one big bomb. I guess-” Another thud. Her stomach dropped.

“Nick?” she whispered.

Faint groaning answered her.

No no no no no! This couldn’t be happening. There was a bomb and Nick had gotten overwhelmed? She quickly muted her end of the phone so the attacker wouldn’t know the line was open. Should she try to talk to them? Maybe she could explain the situation, that Nick wasn’t an intruder but a cop. He hadn’t been in uniform after all.

She unmuted her end and loudly said: “Hello? This is Officer Hopps, from the ZPD. Please pick up the phone.” Silence.

A grunt, sounds that might have been the phone getting scraped off the ground.

Judy tried again. “Hello? The fox in the room is Officer Wilde. Is he unharmed?”

A low chuckle, and then the call went dead. So that must have been the perp itself, not caring if she assaulted an officer of the law. Nick was definitely in mortal danger now and she was still stuck in traffic, with the whole Haymarket quarter between them. She had to do something! Anything! Looking at her phone she remembered noting down Fernando’s number from the pilfered emails. He might listen to a threat for the commune, even if he set them up against Sanchez.

She dialed the number into her phone. It rang for excruciatingly long seconds, until: “Yes?”

“Uh, Fernando? It’s me, Binks! Remember?” Judy nearly yelled in her hurry.

“Ah, yes, I do remember. But I think you are not really Binks, am I right?” the oryx asked.

“H-how did you-”

“Please, rabbit, don’t insult my intelligence.” His sneer was audible. “You show up for one day then vanish again. I keep an eye on newcomers and know you haven’t been around after the first night. And now all of a sudden you call me on this number that few people know.”

Judy really didn’t have the time to think of something, didn’t have time for anything, so she just went with the truth. “Judy Hopps, ZPD. I’m sorry to inform you that we have just confirmed the existence of an explosive device in your warehouse. You must evacuate the premise and-”

“Right,” Fernando interrupted her. “And how would you have confirmed the existence of a bomb in the building? Did you sneak in again and plant the dummy yourself? Goodbye, Miss Hopps.” The line went dead.

Rotten turnips. Her only hope had a big dislike for the police, stronger than most Haymarket inhabitants even. But she had to try-

Her phone started ringing. She didn’t even read the number this time. “Yes? Er, Judy Hopps speaking.”

“It’s me,” Nick’s voice said, sounding weak. “I managed to dial back with my foot. Stupid badger just tossed the phone at the floor.”

“Nick! Are you okay?” she almost yelled.

“Got my arms zip-tied behind my back,” he slurred, making her think he had a slight concussion. “Otherwise just peachy. Except for, well, bomb and all. Timer’s at twenty minutes, but not running yet. Badger just dragged out the ferret.”

“I’ll get help Nick, don’t worry,” she said, even if she didn’t know how right now. But she would! “Look, Fernando won’t listen to me yet. Is there something else you talked about with Sanchez? Anything to help me convince him.”

“Don’t think so… I’m so sorry, Jude. This is looking bad, isn’t it?”

“Dammit Nick, don’t give up now! What did you learn?”

“Sanchez… he installed Fernando into this place. Wanted to keep recruiting new people for his ranks from here. But Fernando put an end to it. That’s how it all got started… Judy… you know I love you, right?”

“I- I know, Nick. And I will get you out of there, hang tight.”

“Oh- shh! Someone’s coming.”

Judy quickly muted her end again, then heard footsteps as well.

Nick’s voice made her insides freeze. “Seeing as you just activated that bomb, you really must work for Sanchez.”

“Shut it, fox,” a female voice growled. It was too far from the phone bug Judy assumed it was Toffra.

Judy looked at the clock. Backup was still twenty minutes out. Feeling like they had no time to waste, she called Ben on the radio and told him to open a line to Fernando on her radio. That way, she could leave her phone call with Nick running.

While it rang, she realized she still didn’t know what to say. If Fernando had been put in place by Sanchez, none of this would be news to him. Nick and she really had had no clue about this whole case until it was too late. There had to be some-

“Yes?”

“It’s Hopps again. Listen, we know about your initial deal with Sanchez. And- I get that you just want to protect these people, right?”

Fernando sighed. “Guilty as charged. I hope this isn’t also a crime, not that I’d be surprised if it were.”

“No! We’re all for keeping this commune alive and running. But it won’t, because we got tipped off that there was an explosive device and my partner just confirmed this and the presence of a known terrorist but then got overpowered. The timer said twenty minutes! Please have someone check it out, Fernando. Someone armed, if possible.”

“Ah, you’ve met Dersil. Don’t worry, I know where his loyalties lie. And while I don’t know what game you’re trying to play with me, you must understand by now that I have little trust your organization. Maybe if you had just come to me in the first place instead of sneaking in undercover, Hopps.”

“Fernando, please! Just because I’m working for the ZPD doesn’t mean I don’t care. Rida and Alec knew who I was, they’re my friends and I’d hate to see them dead!” She couldn’t even mention Nick right now, shying away from the thought like from a hot stove.

“Oh, really? Alec! Come over here for a second!” he called out.

“How can I help, Fernando?” Judy heard Alec’s distant voice.

“There’s a rabbit called Hopps on the phone with me. She claims you know her. Is she telling the truth, Alec?”

“Erm, yes. She is.”

“Did she coerce you into vouching for her?” Fernando asked.

“Sorry, Fernando. She is just our friend. We didn’t want to at first, but when-”

“It’s alright, Alec, I’m not accusing you. That’s all I wanted to know.” Then the voices got clearer again. “It seems you are telling the truth on this point at least, Officer Hopps.”

“Thank you. Now will you evacuate and check out the cellar, please? Please?!”

“I don’t need a mass panic, Hopps, the situation is precarious enough as it is. You must still think me an idiot if you think I would believe that Sanchez would stoop to such lows as to murder dozens of mammals.”

A part of Judy wanted to weep with frustration at this point. There was one more trump card: threatening him with the incoming bomb squad, which would tear this place apart to find any bomb. She knew they would be too late, but Fernando didn’t. What held her back, however, was her negotiation training. If Fernando really cared about the commune – and everything pointed towards that fact – then she would truly put him into a corner with this threat, and there was no way to predict how he might react. He might even try to make a hostage situation out of it, sealing their fate for sure.

Toffra. Nick said that Dremings had confirmed it.

“Fernando, I know this will come as a shock, but it’s Toffra. We believe that she is working for Sanchez! And as the person in charge of logistics, she could have easily smuggled in an explosive.”

Fernando sighed. “Ah, I see now. You’re trying to sow distrust between me and my second-in-command. And just when I thought you might have a bit of honesty in you, Hopps.”

Judy hit the steering wheel in helpless frustration. She decided that trying to explain that they got a confirmation from somebody working for Sanchez might make him even more suspicious. “No! I just made the connection myself! Look, we copied some emails from her to understand what was going on. Some of them hinted at her keeping things from you, giving out your location. We haven’t figured out to whom yet, but she is definitely not being honest with you!”

“And I’m supposed to take your word for it, rabbit? Against somebody who I’ve known and trusted for years now.”

Judy wanted to reach through and shake him. Instead she said: “I’m forwarding you the emails. Keep them as collateral against me if you wish, because if my boss realizes I sent you what might be key evidence, he might just fire me on the spot.” She tapped through to her email inbox. “What’s your email?”

He told her and she sent them off.

“Now will you please trust me!”

“Judy,” came Nick’s voice from her phone. “I’m sorry, okay? For all the shit I gave you about running in head-first.” Nick suddenly said.

“What?” She un-muted her phone. “Nick, don’t talk like that!”

“I just… I don’t know if we’re going to get through this. But I-”

“Nick, no! You will not give up now, dammit!” Judy yelled. “I’m getting you help, and you will hold out and we’ll get you out!”

A few moments of silence.

“Oh, hello,” came Nick’s voice again. “Toffra, was it?”

Judy held her breath, but if there was an answer, Nick’s phone didn’t catch it. She muted her end of the call again. “Fernando, please! Toffra is down there right now. Please just check it out!” They would all die, and she was stuck half an hour away in traffic! This couldn’t be happening.

“Those emails don’t prove a whole lot, Hopps, but I appreciate the collateral,” Fernando said after a few moments. “I’ll check the storage rooms if it means so much to you, and if you lied, then I guess you can say goodbye to your career.”

“Oh, thank you! It’s the one in the northwestern corner, I think. Check that one first!”

Nick’s voice again: “Why are you doing this, Toffra? Betraying your own- oh, nice gun. I’ll shut up then, if that is what you want.” A low growl in the background.

“Fernando, she has a gun,” Judy whispered. “Be careful.”

“Who do you think gave it to her?” came the annoyed reply.

“There are a lot of mammals up there,” Nick said. “Whoa, don’t-”

A single bang.

“Nick?” Judy’s blood froze. “NICK!”

  
###  
  


The email notification popped up on Fernando’s laptop.  He opened the mail, which came from jud ith .hopps@zpd.gov and skipped through the attached messages. They were indeed messages between Toff and other mammals, but that was to be expected from somebody handling logistics. He never asked her for details because he knew she did  her job well . Still, some message contents he couldn’t explain. He’d just ask her.

“Those emails don’t prove a whole lot, Hopps, but I appreciate the collateral,” he said while standing up. “I’ll check the storage rooms if it means so much to you, and if you lied, then I guess you can say goodbye to your career.”

Half of him was expecting this to be some sort of trap. There had been enough attempts on his life already, and a trap inside the shelter itself- well, he didn’t know how they could pull it off, but that didn’t mean it was impossible. He thought about taking Dallas, but the old tiger was still recuperating from the last attack and probably sleeping. He went down the stairs alone.

“Fernando, she has a gun,” Hopps whispered through the phone. “Be careful.”

That was not news to him. But had she known that due to her infiltrating them last week or learned it just now? He heard that she was on the phone with somebody else at the same time, but couldn’t make everything out. Still, there was something in her voice, a real urgency that Fernando believed could not be faked. “Who do you think gave it to her?” he replied. Just because she believed there was danger didn’t mean there actually was.

Hopps accusing Toffra, that irked him even more than her infiltrating the commune. The rabbit had guts, he could give her that. But trying to incriminate the one person who had his full trust, that was just insulting.

A gunshot rung out, clearly coming from below. Hopps was yelling. Fernando cursed under his breath and started running. If this was a trap, then it was a really elaborate one. The explanation didn’t sit right with him.

He reached the hole at the end of the corridor where a crude stair had been carved into the earth, leading down into the makeshift cellar. It was barely high enough for him and his horns were scraping on the ceiling. A light burned in one of the dug-out rooms – why had they not taken that off, now that nobody used the cellar anymore? From the two makeshift doors only one was ajar and had light behind it. He kicked it open.

Toffra whirled around at his entrance, but then quickly lowered her gun again, as she caught his eye. “Fernando! How- we’ve got to get out of here!”

Behind her were several oil drums with a label on them, warning about an incendiary content. Atop of them was indeed sitting something that could be a bomb. It had a timer counting down from sixteen minutes, fourty three seconds.

“Oh, not you too,” he sighed. “Please tell me you can fix this, Toff.”

“I can’t!” She looked completely unlike her usual collected, un-fazable self. Almost jittery, in fact.

“You… started it,” came a voice from the left.

Fernando turned and saw a fox lying against the wall, hands behind his back. A bullet hole adorned the wall next to his head.

“Shut up, fox, I caught you red-handed!” Toffra yelled, and then turned back to Fernando. “He already started it and I can’t safely stop the timer. Not in fifteen minutes! We have to run.”

He looked down at the fox. Not in uniform or anything. It had to be a move by Sanchez. Using the ZPD, yes, the same move he had tried against the tiger. That had to be it.

“Nick?” It came from his phone.

“I’m fine, Judy,” the fox weakly answered. “You brought the cavalry, Fluff, you did good.” Then he looked up at Fernando. “I talked to Sanchez today.”

“Oh, I bet you did,” Toffra spat, stepping between Fernando and the fox.

“Is it true that you stopped him from recruiting here?” he continued, looking over the badger’s head.

Fernando nodded. “That’s how this all got started.”

Wilde managed a weak smile. “Good. Now either convince your friend here to stop the timer, or get your people out of here.”

“Shut your lying mouth, fox!” Toffra yelled.

“Tell me how you even knew I was here, sweetheart,” Wilde shot back.

“I saw you come in through the backdoor and knock out poor tenhouser, how else? After that I just had to follow a trail of pointing hands to find you.”

“So you have video surveillance. But then how would I have gotten all these barrels in here?”

“You- you probably tricked someone to help you, or just intimidated them. Who know’s what your’re capable off!”

“Even then, getting these large barrels in would kind of attract attention. Unless you were, say, in charge of logistics.”

Fernando followed the exchange with one ear while his eyes were glued to the timer and his thoughts were racing. He had thought about possible leaks, about moles in their ranks. Sanchez was a powerful adversary and could find leverage against a lot of mammals if he wanted to. But he had never even considered Toffra.

No, the badger who had been with him from the start. Surely she would have said something, would have trusted him to protect her from whatever he had threatened her with. She couldn’t be the weak link. “Give it up, Wilde, she’d never do that,” he said. He had to concentrate on how to solve this, not how to distribute blame.

“Wait!” The phone piped up with Hopps’ voice. “You just think she has no motive, but- Nick, does she look protective of him?”

“Er- yes, yes she does,” Wilde answered. “She’s even standing between us, as if I wasn’t concussed and had my hands tied behind my back. You don’t think…”

“And would you think, Nick,” Hopps continued, “that Sanchez might use intimidation to get what he wants?”

“Of course.”

“Fernando, she’s just trying to keep you alive. Sanches probably told her he’d allow you to live, if she helped destroy the commune.”

Fernando looked down at his friend, who was slowly shaking her head at the phone. “You’re kidding, Hopps. How could you know that?”

“I noticed how she looks at you. And I know what it feels like because right now _I_ would be willing to strike a deal with Sanchez to get my partner out of there alive. I already handed you my career on a silver plate, remember?”

“Judy,” Wilde croaked.

“Not now, Nick.”

Fernando twisted his second-in-command around by her shoulders. “Tell me she’s lying, Toff.”

“She’s lying,” Toff wasn’t meeting his eyes.

“Toff!”

“What!?” Suddenly she had tears in her eyes. “I couldn’t-” She stepped away from him, back towards the bomb, shaking with her whole body.

This was all a big prank. It had to be! “Toff, please tell me you’re joking and that you didn’t let Sanchez blackmail you without telling me!” He looked at her, pleaded her with his eyes to smile and slap his arm and tell him it was all a joke, but she didn’t move. He looked at the animal that’d had his trust for years, longer than anyone else since he’d come to his rotten city and inside him something crumbled and died.

How could she do this to him?

How could she betray him?

How could she-

“How could you betray us like that? Me? Everyone here!” he asked.

“You rutting oaf, you still don’t get it, do you?” she screamed.

“No! No, I do not know how you could misuse my trust like that!”

“It’s because- because I-” she visible crumbled in on herself, reaching up with both hands to cover her eyes, one of which was still holding the hand-gun. “…because I’m in love with you, Fern.”

A shot tore through the small room, impossibly loud. Fernando instantly slapped his hands over his ears, but they wouldn’t stop ringing. The sudden pain and shock made him feel dizzy but he pushed through it, he had to see- he squinted his eyes a couple times until he could see- the accidental shot had missed her.

When he could hear again, everyone was still groaning, but Toffra had her gun level again. The shock seemed to have snapped her out of it.

“Not that it rutting matters anymore,” she said, now meeting his eyes with a dead gaze. “You’re going to hate me now that you found out what I had to do to save you. I might as well stay here and go down with the ship.”

“What?”

“Go, you have a commune to save.” She slid down the barrels until she was sitting in front of them.

Fernando shook his head, trying and failing to follow her string of logic. He kneeled down in front of her, trying to get more on eye level with her. He knew it was a position where it was even harder to dive out of the way of a gunshot but he didn’t care anymore. “You… you are in love with me?”

She looked away. “Go away, Fern. I don’t need your pity.” She underlined the point by jabbing the gun in his direction.

Fernando felt like doused in cold water. She was. How could he have missed that? He reeled back into a squatting position, staring at the badger who now looked almost alien for him. When had that happened? Years of interactions played back in his head. Now that he looked at it from this perspective, he wanted to slap himself for being so blind, but-

“Fernando!” two voices called out to him.

He mechanically turned his head around. Oh yeah, the fox and the rabbit were still around as well. Spectators in the trainwreck that his life had turned into all of a sudden. He raised an eyebrow at Wilde.

“As much as I wish you had time to sort this out properly, there’s still this little bomb in the room.”

Oh.

The timer read eight minutes now. But try as he might, Fernando was unable to grasp the full meaning of this.

“Fernando, remember your commune, they need to get out of there,” Hopps voice implored him.

Right. The mammals above. His people. They needed him, but… he couldn’t. He couldn’t just leave Toffra behind.

“If you stay, I stay,” he said, sitting down in front of her.

Wilde cursed. Toffra just stared, shaking her head. “No, you can’t-”

“If you want me to live, you’ll have to deactivate that thing.”

Her face became a grimace of anger. “Stop playing me, dammit! You can still get your people out. This,” she slapped a barrel “is just incendiary, not explosive. It’ll destroy the shelter, not kill everyone.”

“They will get out then, but they’ll lose so much. Everything we’ve accumulated here will be lost. They’ll lose hope and disperse in all directions. And those who just settle down in the next warehouse will be easy pickings, just as Sanchez wants. I might as well stay here.”

She raised her gun at him. “Go!”

“You can’t threaten me with death to keep me alive, Toff, that’s not how it works,” he said calmly, knowing full well that she wouldn’t follow through. He might have been blind to her, but not stupid.

“He- he’ll just kill us then. Hunt us down and murder us. Probably torture us, too, for defying him!”

He reached over and trailed a hoof along her cheek and down her neck. She shuddered at first, but then seemed to relax just a little bit. “You don’t know that, Toff.”

“Six minutes, guys,” Wilde interjected. “I’d really love to warn some people now. I’d do it myself if I could get up.”

Fernando ignored him. He had to get this one thing right. “I can forgive you for betraying me. But it’s not going to matter if we both die here and now.”

Hopps was muttering something over the phone that sounded pleadingly.

“I hate you so much, Fern,” she seethed. “So much for making me do this.

“But I guess I still can’t stand the thought of you dying. And I can’t drag your unconscious ass out of here in five minutes.”

He gave a careful chuckle. “Another time.”

“Don’t press your luck,” she said and stood up and threw one last hateful glance towards Wilde before turning around and ripping one of the wires out. The timer went silent. “There. Now what?”

Sighing, Fernando stood up as well. “We’ll have to give outselves up, if I’m not mistaken.”

“WHAT?” she yelled.

Fernando disarmed her while she was in shock, but just put the gun in his own belt. “Right, officers?”

“If you don’t want the bomb squad to take everything apart here, then yes. Release my partner, get the explosive and Dersil out front, and wait for them there. I’ll brief them that the danger has passed and they’ll just need to remove the barrels.”

Toffra still looked at him in shock that he would go along with what the cops dictated, but Fernando’s authority silenced her. The shock of her betrayal had been numbed by all the other shocks he’d gone through in the last hour, but it was still there and he’d need time to sort this out. For now he wasn’t about to put the commune in any more danger of getting disbanded than it already was and if that meant going to the ZPD to get questioned then so be it.

But at the end of the day, after many hours of questioning, they let him go. Not Toffra, and certainly not Dersil, but Fernando was free to go.

Only Wilde intercepted him when he left the precinct.

“Hermanes, wait up!”

He nodded in greeting, but couldn’t really drudge up the energy for more pleasantries right now. “What?”

“I just managed to read the transcripts. Sorry to hear about your friend.”

“It’s alright. Nobody’s dead yet, that’s something.”

“I know things will look rough, but if you’re commune needs help again, let me know, okay? I have some varied resources now.”

For a moment he could just stare at Wilde unsure how to respond so he simply nodded.

“And I’m glad you made the right call back there. Would have been a shitty end for all of us.”

“Part of me wishes I had, just so I’d never have to find out about that betrayal.”

Wilde slowly nodded. “Give it time. At least she doesn’t hate your guts.”

Fernando chuckled without mirth. “Apparently not. A whole lot of good that did. Don’t ask what I’m going to do about that because I have no clue.”

The fox cop waved it off. “You’ll figure something out. Maybe rebuild some trust in the long run.”

“For that to happen there must have been trust in the first place, but I guess that was one-sided. How screwed up is that? I trusted her, while she loves me, but still didn’t trust me.”

“Mammals in love tend to make a lot of stupid decisions.”

Fernando just slowly shook his head. He couldn’t even wrap his head around that one right now.

“Are you going to stay with the commune in the meantime?”

He nodded, but it was a tired, mechanical motion. “It’s not over. Sanchez might have lost his two moles, but he’ll try again. And I just lost my-” He gulped. “Shit, this is all just hitting home…”

“You’ll make do. And Sanchez will pay, as well. Not today, but hopefully soon. We won’t let him get away with this,” the fox said, the conviction in his voice making Fernando look up again.

The two were silent for a moment.

“From what I’ve read,” Wilde started again, “she acted out of fear. Do you believe that?”

“Yes. Toffra always had a unfazable front, but deep down, everything she did was out of some old fear. I still can’t believe I’ve been so blind.”

“Sometimes it’s the right motivator. It sure kept me alive.”

“But it’s not a basis on which to build your dreams on.”

Wilde shifted, almost as if uncomfortable. “Sounds really obvious if you say it out loud, doesn’t it?”

Fernando grunted, unable to summon the energy to care. “Go, Wilde. I can tell you’ve got somebody waiting for you.”

Wilde nodded and quickly walked away. “You’re not dead yet either, Fernando,” he called back.

  
###  
  


Judy was lying on the couch, head buried into a pillow, when she heard the apartment door unlock. Deep breaths, she reminded herself, her mantra for the last half hour.

When the steps stopped halfway through the room she noticed her claws were still dragging across the leather cushions and she held them still.

“Judy?”

Rut it. One leap carried her up onto the backrest, another one landed them both on the carpet. She took an unsteady breath, her nose buried deep into his neck. Everything was alright. He was here. He was fine. Her heartbeat did not agree.

His arms came up to hold her. “Why didn’t you wait for me in the lobby?”

“Didn’t want to make a scene,” she mumbled, squeezing him tighter.

“You. Not make a scene…” he gave a chuckle. “Well, it’s been a weird day.”

For a moment they both lay silent. She was content waiting for her heart to steady itself again, content to just lie there and know that he was still there, still alive.

Nick spoke first. “So, turns out you were right all along, hm?”

“I usually am. What do you mean?” she asked.

“Fernando and Toffra. There really was something between them after all, even if it was one-sided.”

She couldn’t help but squeeze a little bit more into his neck. Thoughts of one-sidedness had also been spiraling in her head for what felt like hours now. To distract herself before she blurted something out she said: “You were right as well. Turns out he couldn’t trust her.”

Nick sighed. “They’ll have time to figure it out now. Fernando was released, but Toffra is going to sit tight for a while.”

“That’s sad. He’ll have to shoulder it all on his own now.”

“He has other mammals to help him. I think a little space will be good for them, after this day.”

“Hmmm. Maybe.” Space. The word seemed to echo in her head.

“It was a really messed up situation. And all because they kept secrets from each other.”

That wasn’t right. Judy drew back to look at him. “No, it’s not about secrets. I thought that was the problem, but the problem was trust. If she’d just trusted him to do his job and keep her safe, none of this would’ve happened. I’m sorry I didn’t realize that earlier. Might have spares us a lot of pain as well…”

She felt his paw petting the back of her head. “It’s alright, Fluff. We’re better off for it. And I don’t intend to have secrets from you anymore. I’m through with living in fear.”

She released a single chuckle. “Bold words, fox. But I like them.”

Eventually Nick stirred. “Mind if I get up? I really need a beer after all this.”

“Me too,” she said, though she didn’t move a finger.

Nick slowly worked himself up, carried her to the couch and tenderly dropped her there before vanishing into the kitchen. Being alone for a moment brought the spiraling thoughts back. Should she tell him? Could she not? She only just realized it today, but now it burned in her like a thousand suns.

He came back only a moment later and popped a bottle into her paws before settling down at the armrest and gulping down his own in one go.

They stayed silent for a moment, sharing in the quiet of the red dusk that shone in through the kitchen door. Judy eyed her partner, suddenly aware again of the space between them.

“Nick…”

“What is it, Fluff?”

“Earlier today, when I was stuck in traffic, and you got knocked out…”

“I’m sorry, that was a really stupid thing to do. Especially after all the speeches I’ve given you.” He reached over and tenderly cupped her cheek with one paw.

Judy had a hard time deciding whether to lean into it or take it away because she couldn’t get distracted now when she had to get this one thing out right.

She took his paw down and held it instead. “Don’t apologize, I’ve done worse. And I don’t think I’ll repeat them now that I know how you must’ve felt.”

“Don’t promise what you can’t keep, Judy,” he said softly.

She shook her head. “What it made me realize, is how little time we might have together. And how I never even thought about that. I just took it for granted that you would be here. And then I realized I didn’t want to miss out on anything. I didn’t want to wait- Nick, I was so afraid for you, I can’t keep going like this!”

A serious look had settled on his face and he sighed. “All we’ve done so far, we did because we wanted to. Working together, hanging out together, living together.

“Don’t let fear dictate your steps now, Judy. Because it won’t hold. I promise I’ll do my best to be careful so I can stick around for a long time and I think so will you. But let’s not have a near-death experience dictate our lives, or how we feel, okay?”

Judy had to take a deep breath to steady herself. This wasn’t going as planned but while it seemed like he rebuffed her, he hadn’t really rebuffed the idea. She tried to read something in his eyes but only got genuine concern. She nodded. There was no turning back for her anyway.

“I haven’t been in fear all these weeks, Nick. It just took me so long to figure it out and put the pieces together. Dumb bunny, remember?” She chuckled because somewhere deep in her she felt a rising hope. She felt her heart singing because she finally figured it out. She knew why she had felt out of place. “I just put them together all wrong and thought I was starting to feel so horny because my implant started fading and sleeping close to you was throwing me off and-”

“W-what? Implant?”

Oh, right, he probably didn’t know about those. And she was making a mess of things. So instead of talking she hopped up on the backrest and back down against him, sprawling him out on the couch. His paws shot up reflexively to steady her before she crashed down, so he was holding her above him.

She gave him the most predatory look she could muster. “I know what I want, Nick. I’ve known this for some time, I just drew some wrong conclusions.” She smiled as he heard his accelerating heart-rate. “And I think you’re not entirely opposed to the idea either. So give me one little finger, fox, and I will take the whole of you.”

She couldn’t read the many different emotions flittering over his face. “You’ve always had me figured out. Really, I’d be embarrassed if it wasn’t you.” He paused, looking her over. “There’s no going back from here, Fluff, you do realize that.”

“Silly fox,” she purred, unable to hide a sly smile. “There was no going back for us since the day you signed that application.”

His arms holding her nearly buckled in surprise and he let out a deep laugh.

“My sly bunny,” he whispered.

“My dumb fox,” she breathed back.

  


He let her down until their lips could meet;

first tentatively, then breathlessly,

soon feverishly.

Showing each other that there was no space left

between

them.


	10. Epilogue

For once Judy was not clawing her way back to consciousness but slowly drifted in and out of it until it finally stuck. She still felt detached from her body when her first thought was that she hadn’t slept that well in forever. Then her body groggily recognized her sore muscles. Before a groan could escape her, however, she remembered the last night and had to grin instead.

If his scent hadn’t been enough, the warmth all around her, and the texture of her coarse fur against her back were more than enough to tell her where she’d woken up. They’d never left the couch. At this point they might as well declare this the main bedroom and wake up in the morning sun every time.

Maybe living on a couch wasn’t so bad as she thought at first. The random thought elicited a soft giggle from her.

Then nature had to interrupt her lazy musings as the rest of her body woke up. She needed the bathroom, fresh water, and probably a shower, but finding the willpower to extract herself from this squabble of limbs seemed impossible. Bladders had a way of being insistent though, so she carefully extracted herself and went to the bathroom, but not before pressing a short kiss on her sleeping fox’s muzzle. His paws stretched and grabbed at thin air, which made another wave of affection for him wash over her, but he didn’t wake.

When she got back, her sense of orderliness required her to pick up all the carelessly thrown away items of clothing that were strewn around the room. Rounding the couch again, she saw one fox eye carefully opened and following her.

“Good morning,” she purred and reached over to scratch his ears.

The grin that spread on his muzzle must mirror her own. “Morning, sweetheart. Up already?”

“Just for five minutes… do we even have the day off?”

He silently chuckled. “Never thought I’d hear those words in such a casual tone from you. But yes, we do.”

“Good,” she handed him the water. “We both need a shower, by the way.”

“Hmm. I like the way you think, Fluff.”

Almost an hour and several drawn out ablutions later, they were sitting on the couch, enjoying the last of the morning sun; clothes optional. Judy was beginning to see what the members of the Mystic Springs Oasis were seeing in it.

“So… ever wanted to dethrone a crime boss?” Nick opened.

“Wait, what? Sanchez?”

“Jup. It would be fitting, wouldn’t it? I got him into power, now I need to take him down again. I’ve been thinking about it-”

“When would you have had time to think last night, Mister?”

“In my sleep, Fluff, try to keep up. Where else would I do my planning.”

She jabbed an elbow in his side. “Seriously though?”

“One-hundred percent. Today, and with you by my side, I can do anything.” He pulled her close.

“But he’ll come after you once he realized what’s going on, right?”

“That’s why we need to move fast, and get him behind bars before he can do anything. Those loyal to him must be swayed or taken in as well.”

“Bad odds, little preparation, and an already wary criminal,” she looked up. “I _love_ it!”

“Then let’s get started,” he said and bent down for another kiss.

  
###  
  


The linchpin of the plan was to find somebody to take over for Sanchez Jr. after he was gone, and Nick knew just the guy. Redeeming a favor, he arranged a meeting with Jan Dremings, and a few hours later, Jan, Judy and him were sitting in a little café bordering Savanna Square.

“Thanks for meeting with us, Jan,” Nick opened.

The ocelot just nodded and yawned, took a sip from his coffee.

“How would you like to take over for your boss?” Judy asked.

Coffee foam went everywhere.

“That’s why you let me do the talking, Carrots,” Nick said, wiping some off of his muzzle. Judy’s response was blowing a raspberry at him.

“You can’t be serious,” Jan said after a moment.

“We are, buddy,” Nick assured him. “We need someone to take his place, when we take him in. And I think you can do a better job than him by now. Sanchez is still kind of obsessed with that commune, isn’t he?”

Dremings slowly nodded. “The amount of resources he poured into this project… don’t even ask.”

“See, that’s exactly what I mean. You’re much more level headed.”

“And you’re still a cop,” Jan said. “How do I know you’re not just setting me up to fall.”

“You don’t,” Judy said. “There is no rule that would allow us to give you a guarantee or a get-out-of-jail-free card.”

“We just trust that you can stay smart, just as the previous bosses did. As long as you keep to smuggling, I won’t look at you twice,” Nick added.

“Okay, let’s suppose that this is the best way for the whole outfit, and I’m your mammal, how would you even pull this off? I know there are safeties in place, but even I don’t know them all.”

Nick slid an envelope across the table. “This will unveil Sanchez Jr.’s involvement in the death of Sanchez Sr. How many of his officers can you sway with this?”

Dremings stared into space for a few seconds. “Ten out of twelve, I’d say. Not the two latest ones. Oh, and there’s the head of security, no way he’ll play ball with us.”

“Leave them to us,” Nick said. “Just get them out of the compound at one point so we can take them in.”

“Let us find something in their cars,” Judy added. “That’ll be enough to keep them for a few days. Long enough that Sanchez is behind bars at that point.”

“Are you sure you can make it stick, though?” Jan asked.

“Definitely,” Nick nodded. “I have a lot more dirt than this. And you can deliver the evidence for it. The only problem will be the timing. Getting it done before he can react.”

“Yeah, I’ll need to talk to the officers one by one. That will take some time.”

Nick pondered the problem. “Send a few to Harv’s bar, one at a time, on a mission to meet a contact, which would be me. I’ll do some of the convincing for you.”

And they started hammering out the details of the day. If all went well, Sanchez would cease to be a threat before sundown.

  
###  
  


It was just past fifteen o’clock when the warthog entered The Charging Boar. Nick was the only mammal sitting at the bar. He’d let Harv know in advance what he’d be doing today and the old wolf made sure they weren’t disturbed.

A warthog, though, Nick wondered. Most of the other officers had been felines, so this must be one of the newer ones. He gave him a nod.

“You my contact here,” the hog asked, beady eyes moving dismissively over Nick.

“I am indeed, my good fellow. Have a seat,” Nick said.

He went through the routine again, now for the third time, reminiscing with the boar about the good life in a smuggling outfit, the loyalty, the benefits, the fools at the ZPD who never managed to find the right crates, before showing him his evidence about Sanchez.

Just when he laid it all out however, a hand dropped heavily on his shoulder. Nick, as collected as he could manage, looked up.

From the description that Jan had given him, there was no mistaking the the lion. It was Sanchez’ head of security. He must have gotten wind of officers disappearing one by one today and followed this one himself.

He had Nick dead to rights. As head of security, he had the expectation of knowing everything going on in the outfit, especially related to other officers. And Nick could see from his stance that he was ready for a fight if need be. The fox wouldn’t make it past him, even if the warthog made a run for it as well. Nick remembered him better now. Back when he was part of Sanchez outfit himself, Normen was still rising through the ranks.

“Heeey! Normen, remember me?” Nick grinned. “You’re here early, I wasn’t supposed to get to you till tonight. You’re not one to follow schedules, buddy, eh?”

The lion looked down at the photos and letters on the table.

“Ah, can’t blame you,” Nick went on, radiating confidence. “I bet big boss didn’t tell you the schedule, that would be silly, in this case.”

“Wilde,” the lion acknowledged him.

Nick could see the gears turning in his head. If he could just get the right grain of doubt into his mind, he might have a chance. “Yeah, of course you remember me. That’s great, because we’ll be seeing a whole lot of each other now, even if you don’t know it yet.” He winked.

Normen let out a low groan and pulled up another bar stool. “Don’t tell me you’re to be my replacement.”

Nick nearly gave a start. “Oh no, buddy, nothing like that. I’m just here to do some jobs that you can’t do. Sorry if it seems like undermining your authority, but hey, orders are orders, right? You’re- uh- not thinking of retiring, I hope.”

Normen shook his head. “No way. But I swear, if Sanchez is going behind my back again… how am I supposed to do my damn job?”

Nick’s mind was racing. The lion was a smart one, he remembered that much, and otherwise Sanchez wouldn’t have put him into this critical position. And Jan swore he was absolutely loyal to the boss. So was he trying to play him now, baiting him to have an excuse to maul him right here?

“Eh, that’s just how he is, Norman, don’t take it personally. He has always kept the cards close to his chest,” Nick said, putting some sympathy in his voice. “I don’t think we can change that.” He turned to the warthog. “We’re done here, buddy. You can talk to Jan for the rest of the briefing.” It was a gamble, sending the officer away while Normen could override his order- but the lion didn’t even look at him as he left the bar.

That was when Nick knew he had him. Normen had fully bought his role as somebody hired to find leaks in the ranks. It wasn’t common practice in semi-legal outfits like a smuggler’s operation, but it wasn’t unheard of either. Nick talked to him about old times, but never risked letting him on to the plan. He kept him busy, while the others were doing their parts of the job.

  
###  
  


The first arrest went off without a hitch. Jan had messaged Judy where to find the car, and she and Sheyla Serkov had pulled him over, found the stash of drugs, and delivered the tiger to a holding cell at the ZPD.

Now that they were on their way out again, Jan was suddenly calling her.

“Yes?”

“Judy, there’s trouble. One of the officers I talked to must have run to Sanchez. He’s fleeing!”

“Copy that, by car or by boat?”

“He’s entering his black van as we speak. Plate is twenty three-A-nineteen-T-B-A. I couldn’t get his destination from anyone yet, but I’ll keep you posted,” Jan said.

“Thank you, informant. We’ll see what we can do,” Judy said and hung up. “Sirens please,” she added to Serkov.

“What’s up?” the cheetah said, hitting the switches on the dashboard.

“Main target is on the move. Tell dispatch we’re heading to intercept.” She floored the gas petal.

At least they were already relatively close to the docks again, but if Sanchez just went to the nearest boat, they might have to call in a helicopter. Better to catch him before this escalated further. She really wanted to see him behind bars, and not under ground like Sanchez Sr.

They reached an intersection that would lead them down to the docks. Before they were across it however, another car shot out from the docks and across the intersection, followed by loud honking. Judy only recognized it was a black van before doing a sharp u-turn and accelerating after it.

The first thing one learned about car chases in the academy was not to get into one if possible. They were too dangerous both to officers and bystanders and mostly uncontrollable. Judy was very much aware of that fact as she sped after the fleeing van, weaving through the otherwise sparse traffic to catch up.

“Target is driving reckless and endangering bystanders,” Serkov narrated for the radio. “Attempting tire blow-out.”

Judy heard Serkov take out the specialized rifle from the door and wheel down the side window.

“Whenever you can hold it steady, Hopps!”

She had to swerve to avoid a rodent sized car that the van had nearly overrun but then there was a short stretch of empty road in front of her. “Now!” she said and accelerated to get in a diagonal position to their target.

A loud hiss as the rifle discharged.

“That’s a miss,” Serkov said and leaned back in to reload.

Then the black van steered right, trying to make it to an exit at the last second. Judy had to break hard to follow him, but it increased the distance between them to maybe ten car lengths again.

“Target made the exit one-oh-tree west towards Sahara Square,” Serkov narrated. “We are still in pursuit.”

“Where are you going?” Judy asked through gritted teeth. She’d barely finished the thought when they rounded the corner of the exit and their target was suddenly coming towards them!

Judy’s heart might have skipped a beat as the black van, which was as big and heavy as their own cruiser came straight at them in the one lane exit that only supported one car of that size. She yanked the wheel right, pulling them hard into guardrail while slamming into the breaks.

The van did the same and for a moment the sounds of screaming metal was deafening. Judy saw eye to eye with the driver of the other vehicle as he came nearly within arm’s reach of her when the van scraped alongside them, taking their mirror and a good part of their paint job with it by the sounds of it.

“Sunnova-” Serkov gasped.

Judy, after realizing she still had all her limbs and that the motor was still running, broke away from the guard rail in reverse. It took two times going back and forth but then she had turned the cruiser around.

“Target is now ghosting the one-oh-seven, I repeat, target is now a wrong-way driver on the one-oh-seven.” Serkov paused. “Please advise.”

Judy didn’t wait for an answer and accelerated after them.

“Hopps! You can’t go after them there, there are half a dozen regulations against this!”

“And he knows it,” she growled. Judy was not about to chance letting Sanchez get away. It would mean that Nick would have to look over his shoulder for the rest of his days and that wasn’t about to happen on her watch. “Look,” she explained, “he can’t keep it up either. Sanchez isn’t stupid, he’ll just go back to the next exit and take that instead.

The black van was indeed in front of them, barely visible in the distance, but driving on the right shoulder lane reserved for small vehicles.

Serkov growled. “This is on you, Hopps. Dispatch, target is suspected to take the previous exit. Recommend getting a blockade up ASAP.” Silently she added: “Before this gets even further out of control.”

The van had reached the previous exit and just as predicted did a narrow u-turn to catch it. Judy winced as she could see several other vehicles swerving and colliding. But she couldn’t risk going faster here, so by the time she reached the exit, the van was out of sight again.

“Car ninety seven, be advised, air support is nearly on scene, and a blockade will be constructed at the entrance of tunnel seven towards the nocturnal district.”

“Of course, that’s where he’s going!” Judy exclaimed. “He’ll shake the air support and will make it out on foot down there.

“I don’t know if they’ll be fast enough with that blockade,” Serkov said. “We’re really close already.”

Judy could already make out the mountains below the climate wall in the distance. There was only one thing to try so she accelerated hard. But the faster they got, the more she felt the unevenness in the steering. Something must have gotten dented in their collision with the guardrail and it was making it harder to keep the cruiser fully under her control.

“Target is in sight again,” Serkov said. “Attempting tire blow-out again.”

“Serkov, look! The barricade isn’t up yet.” The entrance of the tunnel was coming up fast but there was only one other cruiser standing in it, leaving more than enough space for the van to get through.

“I see it, we have to hit him now.”

“Wait, there’s another exit! He’ll try it again!”

“He won’t, he wants the tunnel,” Serkov asserted.

All that Judy could think of was what would happen if he didn’t and they lost their chance. “But if-”

“Hopps, let me do my job!”

Judy ground her teeth but nodded and put the car into a diagonal position again. “Now! Quick!” Serkov had to be quick because they were heading straight for the parked cruiser now.

The rifle hissed again.

The van began to swerve wildly.

“I think that’s a hit!” Serkov said.

Sanchez’ driver was skilled indeed, trying to keep the van straight under the increasing tilt to the left that the vehicle got as one of its back tires deflated, but it was for naught. They made it past the unfinished barricade but the swerving became more and more erratic until the vehicle suddenly went sideways and immediately rolled onto its side.

Judy carefully drove past the barricade and the van and stopped on the other side.

“Target has flipped over, no occupants in sight, but presumed alive,” Serkov narrated. “Requesting backup to apprehend main suspect.”

They exited the cruiser.

The van lay silent and her ears could pick up nothing but the several officers closing in on the vehicle from all sides now. In the tunnel lighting she couldn’t even see anything through the windshield so she opted to stay at an angle where somebody inside wouldn’t have a clear shot at her.

She saw it were McHorn and Higgins who approached the van from the back, the former showing her a curt nod before he joined his partner at the door. She and Serkov stayed on the other side in case anyone tried to run, tranq guns at the ready.

Doors were pulled open and shouting ensued, but no shots – and then it was already over.

She only saw Sanchez from behind as he was led away by the other team, while Serkov pulled out the stunned driver and waved a medic over for him.

She felt relief wash over her and holstered her gun again, moving to help Serkov.

Nick showed up a few minutes later in another squad car.

“Heard about you on the radio,” he said, taking in the scene. “Good driving.”

“You should see the cruiser,” she smiled.

He shrugged. “It’s still running, isn’t it. Bogo might chew you out a bit, bit I think you did well.”

“Thanks. And you can thank Serkov for stopping them. How are things on the other end?”

“Our informant says we’re fine. Didn’t go completely without a hitch, but good enough. We didn’t get to all of the inner circle, but turns out those who remained weren’t terribly loyal after learning Sanchez just left them behind.”

She leaned against his side. “Great. Now all that’s between us and a nice, long vacation is a mountain of paperwork.”

“What’s this?” he snickered. “Judy Hopps is hankering for some time-off? Never thought I’d see the day.”

She laughed. “So? How about it?”

“Want to see the countryside again?”

“Nah, I was thinking more about some nice, tropical beach. Doesn’t even have to be far.”

“It’s not going to be easy finding something on such short notice.”

“Oh.”

Nick’s arm came up around her. “But I know just the guy to ask…”


End file.
